Nigeria international prolific striker is now on everyone’s mind

Let me hear you say my name: Now say it Loud!

Sixteen goals from seventeen games, including 3 assists, is not a lean feat for a Serie A forward to achieve with Napoli FC of Italy, but what is outstanding is the unanimity of European football experts in their belief that the Nigeria international gangling forward Victor Osimhen is the toast of European football at the moment.

That general assumption of the immense talent on offer in Osimhen have seen him become the major toasts of European club managers and it is just as well.

The Napoli forward is so much on the roll these days that even the hard-to-impress Roma boss José Mourinho had to pull the Nigerian forward aside as he terrorized his side in a Serie A for a brief coaching advice on how to impress even more going forward.

Morinho advice to the Napoli star forward was to cut down on diving and be more bullish. The Portuguese gaffer later rued his luck for not being able to afford the rave of the moment striker lamenting: “He is the same level as Didier Drogba, but Didier didn’t dive. If Victor changes, Ok.”

Photo by ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images

If wishes were horses, Mourinho would gladly have Osimhen within his fold and not outside it.

“I’d buy him if I was at a Club with lots of money,” Mourinho confessed.

However, with the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal FC, and Paris Saint-Germain all rolling up their sleeves for a battle to acquire Osimhen, who and just what is Mourinho’s Roma in the catalog of Europe’s big club spenders who are ever more than determined to acquire such a huge star?

Napoli now reckon that Osimhen is worth at least 90 million pounds for the asking. This was after two futile attempts by Manchester United-the last being at the just closed January transfer- to buy Osimhen. But it does not appear as if the last has been heard from manager Erik Ten Hag’s Old Trafford concerning the acquisition of the Napoli superstar.

According to Gazzetta dello Sport (h/t RMC Sport), citing sources, the Red Devils are polishing off a €120 million (128,299,200.00 United States Dollars) offer to Napoli to allow Osimhen to head for Old Trafford in June.

Osimhen could be used to fortify the Red Devils attack line and be a viable option for manager Erik Ten Hag, who presently applies Wout Weghorst and Anthony Martial to the top-nine role.

Chelsea FC, Manchester United’s Premier League rival, paid out just the equivalent price for talismanic midfielder Enzo Fernandez from Benfica last month. Sky Sport pundit Clinton Morrison is convinced of Chelsea’s desperate need of a dependable goalscorer and Napoli’s Osimhen’s ability to ideally fill that void. 

Graham Potter’s Chelsea have already rued their ill luck in the acquisition of Gabon international and former Barcelona FC forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who has simply misfired since arriving Stamford Bridge in June, and Osimhen could be the likely quick-fix.

Chelsea have managed a paltry 22 goals in 21 matches in the Premier League this season, are significantly the least-scoring side in the top wrung of the log.

No surprises as Kai Havertz, with just five goals in the league, heads Chelsea’s goalscoring chart this season.

The arrival of accomplished and talented attacking options like Joao Felix and Mykhailo Mudryk may help boost the striking production at Stamford Bridge, but several pundits like Morrison, feel Chelsea needs a proper number nine.

“They spent all that money and they don’t have a natural number nine that can put the ball in the net,” Morrison, a former Crystal Palace forward told Sky Sports (via HITC) while reviewing Chelsea’s attacking debacle.

“Victor Osimhen, the boy at Napoli, I do like. I think there are a lot of big clubs watching him. I think he could suit Chelsea.”

Victor Osimhen: My love, I give you. All my love, I leave with you!

There is word-out of Parc des Princes suggests that Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), also have the Zorro from Naples deep in their thoughts.

There appers to be several things PSG want to know about Osimhen to move forward.

“They’ll have to know if Osimhen is the player they want to compete for the striker role; they’ll have to know it will cost them a significant sum,” Eduardo posted in PSG Talk, the Parisien side’s official news and opinion forum.

“Les Parisiens brought Hugo Ekitike last summer’s transfer window from Stade de Reims. The 20-year-old arrived in the French capital on loan with an obligation to buy, so it will be interesting to see if sporting advisor Luis Campos wants to spend that type of money on another striker.”

According to Gerry Crisandy of The Chelsea Chronicle, Osimhen, who has scored up 16 times and provided three assists in 17 Serie A appearances this season, is assuredly one of the hottest goalscoring forwards in Europe at present.

Any transfer transaction involving the 24-year-old Nigerian, however, is expected to gross in excess of £100million.