In a summer transfer window frenzy filled with wild spending and high-profile striker chases, one name remains surprisingly quiet and ignored – Victor Osimhen.
Nigeria’s front man, who has scored more than some of Europe’s attackers, is the subject of a surreal stalemate. With an interesting ratio of goals linked to the continent’s finest, serious offers from biggest clubs are mysteriously nowhere.
Osimhen’s statistics are proof that he merits the rush, with 173 goals in 301 games. Nigerian Osimhen has bettered Liverpool target Alexander Isak (150 goals in 351 games) and Arsenal target Viktor Gyokeres (187 goals in 363 games).
By any standard, Osimhen should be one of the most lucrative strikers in the business. Despite that, the big guns of football remain quiet.
Galatasaray, the Turkish champions, have the only chance to close a deal. Negotiations between the Istanbul club and Napoli are nearing their conclusion, according to a report by transfer expert Fabrizio Romano.
Galatasaray is anticipated to pay €40 million up front, with an additional €35 million due by the end of 2026. However, there are conditions attached to even this deal:
According to reports, Napoli added a provision prohibiting Gala from selling Osimhen to any Italian team for a period of two years.
Although sell-on percentages and guarantees are still being worked out, Napoli’s hold on the move seems more hindering than helpful.
This hesitancy to greenlight the transfer, combined with the absence of suitors from England, Spain, Germany, or even France, has sparked debate in football circles. Runners FC captain and sports commentator Prosper Devu offered a blunt assessment of the situation.
“Victor Osimhen is at the same level as Erling Haaland and Harry Kane,” Devu said. “He is a proven finisher, a natural nine, yet no big European club is seriously tabling an offer for him.
Most of them are in dire need of a striker, which tells you something is being left unsaid in this transfer window. Whether it’s politics, quiet doubts, or a deliberate blacklisting, it’s clear Osimhen is being overlooked – and unfairly so.”
Devu’s remarks support an increasingly prevalent belief among fans and experts that Osimhen is being viewed as an outsider in a market that is looking for top strikers, despite his worth.
Nigerian striker peaks at 25. During the 2022–23 season, he won a record Serie A with Napoli. He became the first African to receive the Capocannoniere for the 2022–23 season with 26 league goals when the season ended.
He is considered one of the greatest all-around strikers of his generation in terms of strength, speed, pressing, and ability in the air.
But Manchester United, Chelsea, Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich, the sort of clubs that should be wooing Napoli, are silent or otherwise engaged.
Some have pointed to Napoli’s high asking price or Osimhen’s recent injury spells as deterrents. But when less prolific and less experienced forwards are commanding equal or higher attention in the market, such excuses seem paper-thin.
Galatasaray transfer, though a nod to Osimhen’s worth, is aside from the top-league football stage he is headed for. For all the Turkish club may dream of Champions League, it is considered by most that Osimhen is destined to spear the charge for a European giant in search of league titles and continental dominance.
For now, the quiet persists. But as the transfer window plods on, the demonization of Victor Osimhen’s market spurning grows louder.
Either through backroom politics, good scouting, or de facto blacklisting, the football world will regret not calling one of the generation’s finest forwards.
