Manchester United have had an underwhelming Premier League season and they are presently nine points behind the guaranteed Champions League positions.
The Red Devils have netted only 21 goals from their 17 top-flight games and manager Ruben Amorim is reportedly not pleased with the current options to lead the attack.
Sky Switzerland journalist Sacha Tavolieri now claims that United are already in contact with the representative of Napoli striker Victor Osimhen over a possible winter move.
Personal terms could be easily agreed with the 25-year-old, but Napoli president Aurelio de Laurentiis is unlikely to accept anything less than the player’s £62 million release clause.
United are eyeing Osimhen as a potential replacement for wantaway star Marcus Rashford, but Tavolieri reports that INEOS require significant player exits to afford the huge outlay.
Osimhen has been on loan with Galatasaray since September, but there is a break clause in January.
United unlikely to land Osimhen this winter
Amorim has rotated his options up front since his appointment. He started with Marcus Rashford before preferring Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee to lead the line.
Hojlund has been the most successful with five goals since the last international break. Zirkzee has fared decently with three goals in this period – the same as Rashford.
Rashford has been dropped for the past three games due to ‘selection’ reasons by Amorim. He could head for the exit door next month after admitting he wants a new challenge.
Osimhen is reportedly on the club’s radar, but we don’t see a deal happening. United’s negotiation power for Rashford has reduced with his lack of minutes and desire to leave the club.
Interested teams should be aware of the same and they could propose loan deals with future buy clauses.
Hence, United are unlikely to recoup any big fee from his sale. If they wish to recruit Osimhen this winter, it could depend on securing funds from offloading other first-team stars.
With this in mind, we don’t see the club signing Osimhen this winter.
The Nigerian striker, described as ‘world-class‘ by Fenerbahce manager Jose Mourinho, has impressed for Galatasaray with 12 goals and five assists from 15 outings this season.
Osimhen would be an upgrade on Hojlund and Zirkzee. He averages almost 1.9 shots on target which is significantly higher than the United duo (0.4 & 0.5 shots on target).
The hierarchy appear in contact with his representative, but United may wait until the summer to spend big on a striker. A left wing-back could be prioritised for January.
The club could trigger the buy-back clause to re-sign Alvaro Fernandez from Benfica.
Stats from Transfermarkt.com & Sofascore.com