Rasmus wasn't cheap.
Victor Osimhen
- Thread starter UnitedSofa
- Start date
Yeah like I said to @Remember the geese it will take a huge effort to sell this club to him with all the negative stuff around it and no CL either
I’d say Arsenal more than the 2 you mentioned. There crying out for a ST. Liverpool will most likely target Isak if they sell Nunez.
I meant in terms of the potential young signing but yeah you are right we overpaid massively
26 is fairly old to be making an expensive transfer though. The average age of transfers in made in the Premier League this winter was 19.5, for reference. Attacking players peak young; most research shows age 25-27. Osimhen will already be nearing the end of his peak years by the time he joins a new club.
People are far too focused on the next season when pushing for transfers. When you pay £60M plus another £60-100M in total wages on a contract, you need to be getting many good years for it to be worthwhile. If we sign Osimhen to a 5 year deal, how good will he be the last two years when he's 30 or 31? Is he just another albatross we're trying to get rid of? Probably. That means you're spending ~£150M in fee + wages for 2-3 good seasons. Is Osimhen worth £50-75M per good season? Probably not.
Contrast with a young player like Delap. I'm not scout, and I don't know if he is specifically the guy, but just referring to the archetype of a promising 22 year old. If you buy him for less fee and cheaper wages then get 6-7 good years out of him you're going to get far better value for your money. In the age of PSR you can't just outspend the competition, so value is what matters.
If a truly world class player like Messi or Salah is available in their late 20s I think you throw all this out the window. But Osimhen is at least a level below them, and I think it's telling we saw Chelsea going for him rather than better run clubs like Pool or Arsenal, despite them needing a striker.
Of course if we added Osimhen I'd be excited like most fans, and I think it'd be fun for at least awhile. But the same could be said of many transfers we now regret, and I think this is another dopamine hit that there are good odds we'd regret over time too.
Haven't seen enough of Osimhen to confirm it but in the games I have a dodgy touch has been apparent. Maybe I have just got the wrong games but ideally Utd should not be signing any more players with obvious technical weaknesses, so for those who have a wider spread of games to judge from, would his touch be a problem in the PL?
Having watched an awful lot of Osimhen for Nigeria and Napoli, I think his touch and link up play is exceptional. Napoli often pinged balls directly up to him and he showed great touches, flicks, chest control etc. He’s an all round world class striker which is why I find the current links highly implausible given our current state. If we are able to get him, he will lift our levels considerably
It looks increasingly like that 22-23 season was just him hitting some peak form, he's never really matched that in terms of impact or numbers since then. He's also had a lot of injuries, and those worrying kind where its lots of different muscles one after another, rather than just some unlucky contact injuries.
Ultimately, it depends on the deal. Pouring all our limited resources into this one player would be a mistake. But if we can get him on a more modest arrangement that would allow us to bolster our attack in other ways, then it could work out ok.
Ultimately, it depends on the deal. Pouring all our limited resources into this one player would be a mistake. But if we can get him on a more modest arrangement that would allow us to bolster our attack in other ways, then it could work out ok.
I wonder if we could offer him say a 40M release clause if Amorim gets fired so he know he can leave if that happens. If he plays well, Amorim won't get fired anyways and if he doesn't, Amorim will get fired and getting 40M for him after paying 60M is probably realistic. Probably not a great way to sell him on Amorim's project, but if he's pragmatic and we offer more wages, maybe. But yeah, some team in better stead than us who needs a 9 is way more likely.
Imagine buying Rashford on the back of that purple patch in 2023 and then getting the real Rashford and wondering what happened.
This would be exactly the case with Osimhen, we would be buying him thinking his 22/23 Napoli season was the norm and every other season was some sort of fluke.
Couple that with what appears to be a bad attitude, couple that with losing him to the AFCON, couple that with his age, this seems like a terrible idea, like a peak Woodward/Glazer decision.
This would be exactly the case with Osimhen, we would be buying him thinking his 22/23 Napoli season was the norm and every other season was some sort of fluke.
Couple that with what appears to be a bad attitude, couple that with losing him to the AFCON, couple that with his age, this seems like a terrible idea, like a peak Woodward/Glazer decision.
Who says he has a bad attitude? I hadn’t heard that before.
I think he’s a good profile for what we need. Somebody that can feed on scraps and is just a killer in the box. He reminds me a bit of Luis Saha with his athleticism, which is a good thing.
Around 185k
I’m really puzzled by this view. He’s been scoring for fun at every club he’s been at. Averaging way better than a goal every two games for Gala, Napoli and Lille. He is an elite striker and goal scorer
He could be a great striker but an appalling/unlikeable team mate or person, not saying he is but Napoli sending him to Gala on loan suggests something's not quite right
Has this not been cleared up already? I was under the impression the borderline racist social media content posted by the club ruined their relationship.
Maybe, I've no idea, but still seems a bit off given his replacement was Lukaku
Don’t really think that would be hugely relevant. The post was specifically about Osimhen and I can see how it would have caused a rift.
This is an exceptionally poor assessment of Osimhen.
Non-penalty goals per 90 over the last 5 league seasons.
Osimhen: 0.55, 0.55, 0.84, 0.64, 0.57
Rashford: 0.37, 0.20, 0.53, 0.29, 0.34
Osimhen is not only obviously a much better goalscorer than Rashford (his worst season for returns across that period being better than Rashford's best), his stats are also consistently high level. 22/23 was his peak, but he is now in his 5th season in a row of returning at a better than 1-in-2 rate.
For context, that 0.55 rate of returns he has hit for 5 seasons in a row is something a player like Rooney only hit twice in his 13 league seasons here.
The key issue with Osimhen, the thing that has meant his end of season totals have belied his goalscoring ability, and the key difference between that 22/23 season, is simply minutes on the pitch.
24/25: 1467 (so far)
23/24: 1982
22/23: 2566
21/22: 1983
20/21: 1573
He's as close as you can get in this market to guaranteed goals when on the pitch. But the concerns about fitness and how well he'd age are justified, as you'd be in the position of having to hope he is a lot less injury prone in the second half of his 20's than the first.
Also, as @bb8 notes above, most goalscorers' absolute peak goalscoring years come in their early to mid 20's anyway. That doesn't mean they can't keep scoring at a high level beyond that, but if you buy any striker at 26/27 there's a better than average chance their best rate of returns is behind them.
For those reasons I would have big qualms about committing big money to him. Especially given that even if he does well for us he could still easily be hitting his 30's before the rest of the team is in any shape to actually win a major trophy.
Imagine him being cheaper than Hojlund
Where's this coming from, are there any stats on this? Lewandowski broke the BL record by Gerd Müller that people thought would never be broken aged 30+, scoring 41 goals in 29 games. Benzema had his best ever Real Madrid season aged 30+. Even several tiers below you have somebody like Chris Wood playing his best ever EPL season aged 30+...
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I get what you mean.
Beyond age, Osimhen got his first CL experience in 2019 and Sesko in 2021. So in terms of experience not too far off for me.
Of course playing for Napoli carries more caché than Leipzig, yet it is just as difficult for me to assess how they would each adapt to the PL. Just that from the very little I have seen of them, Sesko comes across as the more well rounded footballer, so I feel he could suit any of the 3 attacking positions.
For example, if we are indeed serious about giving Obi Martin game time next season, I can easily see Sesko starting as a 9, then dropping to a 10 so we can give Obi the last 20 mins up-top.
Aren't Arsenal meant to be interested in Sesko, yeah I do fear the scousers could target Isak which is a total nightmare. Why didn't we buy him from Sociedad before Newcastle is frustrating.
According to reports, both Gyokeres and Osimhen are valued at 62m by their clubs.
Yeah totally understandable he wanted to leave Napoli after the situation with that social media post
But can you think of the last Manchester United No.9 who was 22 or younger? And a success.
Lukaku is his replacement because he is possibly Conte's favorite striker. Nothing to do with Osimhen
Too expensive. We'll want a lower priced option instead.
There was an allegation of racism
The player also felt that the club priced him out of a perm move
The club felt that the player priced himself out of a move with his salary demands
One of the latter 2 reasons is why Chelsea walked away
Most windows closed
The only option open to him was a loan to Turkey. He doesn’t want anything to do with Napoli and they want nothing to do with him.
So a loan was a win-win situation
Please explain. Trying to understand the point you're making here
Please explain. Trying to understand the point you're making here
I think he is trying to say the club can't be racist because they signed a black striker to replace him. Not sure why he seems a bit keen to paint Osimhen as the bad guy in the scenario.
His finishing is poor for a top striker. He misses too many big chances, but his positioning is excellent. He’s the kind of striker who scores a lot yet still frustrates fans.
I wasn't aware of the racist post so if that is the case then yes it makes sense he left
I'd just take him, that can sort our striker "problem" for a few years
I think it would be sensible if the numbers stack up. Having a reliable goal scorer would be huge for the team.
Seems like it's coming from aggregator account as apparently there's nothing about it on his twitter, Instagram or YouTube.
Apparently Napoli looking at Rasmus, how about a swap?
They reportedly value Osimhen at £62m. What kind of discount would we realistically get for including Hojlund in a prospective deal? £15m - £20m? It probably doesn't move the dial very much in terms of affordability, especially when you factor in massive wages for Osimhen.
He's too expensive.