Victor Osimhen

[Hammondo]

More chances than he does at United, yes. More chances than Osimhen did at Napoli, no. That's the point.

Probably true, but there is a big distance between what Hojlund currently does and what is good enough or worth the purchase.

I don't disagree he would probably be an improvement, I just don't think it would be much.

I watched a video of every touch he did in a recent match for galatasaray, and though it doesn't show everything, what it showed was really not impressive.

 

[Shaw's Shank Redemption]

People were pretty sure that Hojlund would turn to Gyokeres under Amorim - so going for Gyokeres when we already have Hojlund maybe having two strikers of the same ilk.

Osimhen is relatively cheap in comparison to his old fee & we have arguably one of the best in the box strikers and heading players in the world if we get him.

Then we can let Hojlund develop as our alternative tactical striker - the channel running striker that many have called him out to be.

2 tactics, 2 different strikers.

Honestly whilst he has been poor even keeping Zirkzee so we also have a False 9 within our squad should give us 3 different types of strikers needed for different situations but keeping 3 strikers seems a bit unrealistic.

 

[TheReligion]

There’s some strange takes here.

We are creating chances. Our xG has been bigger than every team we’ve played since Amorim came in (post Ipswich anyway)

 

[Squeaky_Bum_Time]

There’s some strange takes here.

We are creating chances. Our xG has been bigger than every team we’ve played since Amorim came in (post Ipswich anyway)

I really don't know how this is happening. Are people not watching the games? Or is it just an insistence on being miserable and making it sound like everything is wrong, which is in no way constructive.

 

[Posh Red]

There’s some strange takes here.

We are creating chances. Our xG has been bigger than every team we’ve played since Amorim came in (post Ipswich anyway)

Yeah I made the same point.

 

[SolskjaerHasDoneIt]

Is this legit or just typical Utd rumours?

 

[Andycoleno9]

There’s no point in buying a striker if we’re not equipped to make the most of him is there?

A striker can’t score goals on his own and that’s what our current team practically asks them to do.

Striker who knows where to stand in penalty box and how and when to attack passes and crosses will make huge difference. Last few games we had many crosses and passes where blame was on assisting player who "didn't cross/ pass" well. Well, striker like Osimhen will find himself at the end of those assists.
When fans will learn that striker is not fixed object in penalty box.

 

[Woodzy]

We surely wouldn’t swap Rashford for PSR reasons.

 

[Sandikan]

I really don't know how this is happening. Are people not watching the games? Or is it just an insistence on being miserable and making it sound like everything is wrong, which is in no way constructive.

It's probably that we all laughed at the fans who said their team had more possession (then lost), so now we're claiming to be the XG winners every week, which doesn't really matter when you're losing to Bournemouth and not exactly narrowly.

 

[Andycoleno9]

We surely wouldn’t swap Rashford for PSR reasons.

Why? It can be swap with money involved. We give them 60 mil, they give to us 60 mil.

 

[Squeaky_Bum_Time]

It's probably that we all laughed at the fans who said their team had more possession (then lost), so now we're claiming to be the XG winners every week, which doesn't really matter when you're losing to Bournemouth and not exactly narrowly.

I much rather win every game and lose the possession and xG. We all do. But when diagnosing why we're not winning, it helps to focus on the issues. We create chances that we, almost against odds, waste. Then we concede soft goals (beyond the quality of the chances we conceded due to either brain farts or disorganization and individual mistakes when defending set pieces. Take corners for example, they are notoriously a low percentage affair, so conceding a corner to end a promising chance by the opposition is good defending, but not in our case.

Having more xG and possession does not mean that we are a good team. We have problems elsewhere, but not everything is a problem

I don't know if Osimhen fixes that, frankly he wouldn't be in my top 3 forwards I'd go after, but we do struggle with converting chances and we are light upfront with Mount injured, Rashford's drama, Zirkzee's negligible contributions, and Garnacho's inconsistency.

 

[FujiVice]

He guarantees goals. That is what we desperately need right now. We're 13th in the table.

 

[Shabby as she goes]

There’s some strange takes here.

We are creating chances. Our xG has been bigger than every team we’ve played since Amorim came in (post Ipswich anyway)

So how should we see the xG in your opinion ?

A. It shows the opportunities are there but we are just unlucky in our finishing

B. It shows the opportunities are there but our strikers are a bunch of incapable nutheads

Genuine question

 

[lsd]

Goals do win games but what do we do if we can’t create the chances?

We have clearly been creating changes we just haven't got a proper number nine that can get in the right place to finish them.

Hojlund is far to raw and would be better served being our number two for the time being

 

[Shabby as she goes]

Not sure why I spent half my evening making this overview, but hey, let’s not pretend I have a life. Looking at this list, many of our striker options are quite comparable in age, stats and type of league proven.

I think Osimhen, Gyokeres and Boniface would be the best options

Dunno about their pressing and work rate though.

—

Osimhen (25). €70M
24/25 P. 15. G. 12. A. 5. 1.13. Turkey
20/24 P. 133. G.76 A. 18. 0.63. Italy
Avg. 0.75

Goykeres (26). €75M
24/25 P. 26. G. 27. A. 5. 1.23. Portugal
23/24 P. 50. G. 43. A. 15. 1.16. Portugal
Avg. 1.18

Kolo Muani (26). €30M
23/25 P. 54. G. 11. A. 7. 0.33. France
22/23. P. 50. G. 26. A. 17. 0.86 Germany
Avg. 0.59

Boniface (24). €45M
23/25. P. 49. G. 29. A. 11. 0.82 Germany
22/23. P. 51. G. 17. A. 12. 0.57. Belgium
Avg. 0.69

Vlahovic (24). €60M
22/25. P. 122. G. 53. A. 11. 0.52. Italy
Avg. 0.52

Marmoush (25). €60M
23/25. P. 65. G. 35. A. 18. 0.82 Germany
Avg. 0.82

David (24). €45M
24/25. P. 26. G. 17. A. 5. 0.85 France
20/24. P. 183. G. 84. A. 18. 0.59. France
Avg. 0.59.

 

[Irrational.]

I hope agent McTominay can have a word with Conte and get him to swap Osimhen for Rashy.

 

[TheReligion]

I really don't know how this is happening. Are people not watching the games? Or is it just an insistence on being miserable and making it sound like everything is wrong, which is in no way constructive.

A mixture of these two things I suspect!

Yeah I made the same point.

You were correct!

It's probably that we all laughed at the fans who said their team had more possession (then lost), so now we're claiming to be the XG winners every week, which doesn't really matter when you're losing to Bournemouth and not exactly narrowly.

We aren’t claiming anything. It’s factual!

So how should we see the xG in your opinion ?

A. It shows the opportunities are there but we are just unlucky in our finishing

B. It shows the opportunities are there but our strikers are a bunch of incapable nutheads

Genuine question

I think it shows a combination of these things really, along with the inexperience of the likes of Hojlund.

 

[Johnthedevil]

This is very rough from memory but things soured after they won the title in the 22/23 season as Osimhen believed he had some sort of agreement with the club to be sold for a reasonable figure that summer, I think he had signed an extension previously on that understanding so shades of what happened with Kane and Levy. Once they won the title Napoli decided to demand something crazy like 140M for him and that obviously killed his chances of a big money move to PSG which had been mooted and he went public with his feelings of betrayal.

The 23/24 season saw him missing games through injury and his production declined and there was an incident involving the clubs social media where they effectively abused and mocked him on Tik Tok, I am sketchy on the details but it was incredibly poor taste. Osimhen vowed at the end of the season to never play for Napoli again and with his performances having dropped they reduced their ask to around 75M and were surprised to find no takers at that price. Towards the end of the window the ask dropped to potentially as little as 40M to get shot of him and he had an option to go to Saudi and also Chelsea came calling, he wanted the big money from the Saudi deal but Napoli wanted him to take the Chelsea offer as they were offering to meet the asking price and in the end both deals fell apart. With the window shut they dumped him on a loan deal at Galatasary rather than see his value further decline as he sat out of football altogether owing to his refusal to play for them.

In view of the above he could be available cheaply but he has been in good form so far this season and the desperation of the January window does lead to teams overpaying so I am sure Napoli are hoping to get an offer close to what they were looking for at the beginning of the summer. It is very much up in the air as to how willing Victor is to play ball in negotiations though as he seems determined to go for the biggest bag of cash available and would seemingly quite like to screw over Napoli into the bargain.

Very comprehensive, and appreciated, thank you.

 

[bosskeano]

this is a genuine option if we can get him on loan....a perm move is better for Gyokeres

 

[Andycoleno9]

Just few examples how it is easy to blame "service".
Just in last few games we had 4 or 5 low crosses through 6 yard box. Striker is one step late. Fans blame pass.
We had 4 or 5 good crosses in penalty box. Striker nowhere near those crosses. Fans blame it on "bad delivery".

My opinion is that proper striker will not be late on those low passes and will make easy tap in. Proper striker will be on right place when cross comes. Proper striker will win that header.

That is what we can get with Osimhen.

 

[Lyng]

Swapdeal with Zirkzee would be fantastic. We would finally have a ready made striker that's great in the box. Let Rasmus be understudy

 

[Hugh Jass]

Just few examples how it is easy to blame "service".
Just in last few games we had 4 or 5 low crosses through 6 yard box. Striker is one step late. Fans blame pass.
We had 4 or 5 good crosses in penalty box. Striker nowhere near those crosses. Fans blame it on "bad delivery".

My opinion is that proper striker will not be late on those low passes and will make easy tap in. Proper striker will be on right place when cross comes. Proper striker will win that header.

That is what we can get with Osimhen.

Totally concur. I noticed against spurs in the first twenty minutes dalot played two crosses on a six pence that could have just been tapped in if Rasmus had been quicker.

Or maybe it was dalot and bruno. i cannot quite recall. But two passes that should have been tap ins.

 

[MrWilliams]

Osimhen swap for Zirkzee? If true, we need to be on that immediately.

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

Swapdeal with Zirkzee would be fantastic. We would finally have a ready made striker that's great in the box.

No one’s that lucky.

 

[Giggsyking]

this is a genuine option if we can get him on loan....a perm move is better for Gyokeres

Viktor have scored 27 goals and we are not yet half season. I would put my money on him.

 

[Lay]

Just few examples how it is easy to blame "service".
Just in last few games we had 4 or 5 low crosses through 6 yard box. Striker is one step late. Fans blame pass.
We had 4 or 5 good crosses in penalty box. Striker nowhere near those crosses. Fans blame it on "bad delivery".

My opinion is that proper striker will not be late on those low passes and will make easy tap in. Proper striker will be on right place when cross comes. Proper striker will win that header.

That is what we can get with Osimhen.

Indeed. Osimhen would most likely be there. Hojlund just doesn't have that instinct yet and Zirkzee never will.

 

[Escobar]

Viktor have scored 27 goals and we are not yet half season. I would put my money on him.

I would also prefer him. Seems to give his all for the manager, which we could use here

 

[golden_blunder]

Just few examples how it is easy to blame "service".
Just in last few games we had 4 or 5 low crosses through 6 yard box. Striker is one step late. Fans blame pass.
We had 4 or 5 good crosses in penalty box. Striker nowhere near those crosses. Fans blame it on "bad delivery".

My opinion is that proper striker will not be late on those low passes and will make easy tap in. Proper striker will be on right place when cross comes. Proper striker will win that header.

That is what we can get with Osimhen.

That is only since Amorim joined. Under ETH a striker like osimhen would have been pointless

 

[criticalanalysis]

Let's sign both.

Victor Gyosimhen.

 

[Dempsey19]

We be lucky to get a washing machine in return for Zirkzee.

 

[Andycoleno9]

We be lucky to get a washing machine in return for Zirkzee.

Guy who was included in best 11 in Seria A for last season and for who Milan was ready to pay 40 mil just 5 months ago? Sounds about right.

 

[Fortitude]

Thanks. Your description is clear.

Based on my preference, I definitely prefer Osimhen type of striker who has world class movement, aggression, and athleticism inside the penalty box. This type of striker is harder to defend than someone who relies more in positioning inside the box. And based on your description, I think Osimhen can convert average crosses/passes into goals because he has this world class movement inside the box plus athleticism to connect with the ball. If a striker doesn't have world class movement (for example lukaku), striker will expect the ball always arrive on their feet/head, but Osimhen is the opposite, he seems to have Chicharito's movement with Halland's athleticism. Some of the chances that Hojlund had so far this season which sometime he couldn't reach them by few centimetre, which something Osimhen could take advantage of.

IMO, if a striker doesn’t have technical ability like RVP or as quick as Henry or he is not a striker who can do playmaking like Rooney or he is not false 9 like Firmino then the less time the striker spend outside the penalty box or in wide area, the better and more effective. Gyokeres’s heat map suggests that he likes to be busy running to channels, the issue is that when playing against low block, his run to channels become less effective and I had seen it in PL defenders that when a strikers run to channels against good defenders, the striker will be forced to go wide. Correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think Gyokeres has the technical ability and dribbling ability like Isak or speed like prime Vardy to beat his man one v one from wide (if he is forced to go wide).

Unless if you see it differently, feel free to counter mine.

If it's not clear from my posts, Osimhen isn't someone I dislike, but when you enter that serious money outlay territory, it's no longer punts that don't really matter if they come off or not - you really should have a plan of how to optimise expensive signings and not just force them as round pegs into square holes.

If the argument is whether he's simply better than what we have, it's a no-brainer; of course he is. If the factor that his is potentially a one-shot in a 2-3 year period for a striker of this calibre, then you seriously better have a plan in place to optimise the expensive signing and not just dump him into suboptimal conditions and expect turd polishing to ensue.

Ironically, posters pumping out "R9 or nothing" jibes is exactly what dumping elite players is for as they aren't dependant on teammates to be what they are. Osimhen is, and if you want the very best of him, the supply lines need to be clear and consistent.

This question sort of boils down to whether you're of the belief that what we supply and the xG being good enough or not - if you believe it is, you're going to be of the belief that an Osimhen will come in and convert far more of those chances than what we have here do, and that'll be enough to justify the outlay.

What I'm more of an advocate for with Osimhen is getting him in on loan with an option to buy and seeing what he does here. Having an open mind about that and seeing whether he can turn our level of service into enough to warrant the costly purchase. A try before you buy, essentially.

 

[JE-365]

If it's not clear from my posts, Osimhen isn't someone I dislike, but when you enter that serious money outlay territory, it's no longer punts that don't really matter if they come off or not - you really should have a plan of how to optimise expensive signings and not just force them as round pegs into square holes.

If the argument is whether he's simply better than what we have, it's a no-brainer; of course he is. If the factor that his is potentially a one-shot in a 2-3 year period for a striker of this calibre, then you seriously better have a plan in place to optimise the expensive signing and not just dump him into suboptimal conditions and expect turd polishing to ensue.

Ironically, posters pumping out "R9 or nothing" jibes is exactly what dumping elite players is for as they aren't dependant on teammates to be what they are. Osimhen is, and if you want the very best of him, the supply lines need to be clear and consistent.

This question sort of boils down to whether you're of the belief that what we supply and the xG being good enough or not - if you believe it is, you're going to be of the belief that an Osimhen will come in and convert far more of those chances than what we have here do, and that'll be enough to justify the outlay.

What I'm more of an advocate for with Osimhen is getting him in on loan with an option to buy and seeing what he does here. Having an open mind about that and seeing whether he can turn our level of service into enough to warrant the costly purchase. A try before you buy, essentially.

I agree with what you said. To have this plan, we need to know what we are building with.

Imo, we need to have a top class goalscorer which something we are currently don’t have, once we have this goalscorer then we will know what we are building with because the aim is to make this top class goalscorer to score goals to win you games and win trophies.

I believe we have the structure and a player that suits Osimhen. In term of structure, we will play with wingbacks. IMO, wingbacks must be able to deliver the ball in the box. Right now, we have zero wingbacks and I’m sure the plan in the summer is to buy wingbacks and I expect our future wingbacks to be able to deliver the ball in the box regardless who our striker is. In term of a player that suits Osimhen is Bruno. Bruno’s strength is his killer ball and his quality lies on when he pumps the ball to the box. It’s almost like how KDB is a suitable provider for Haaland due to Haaland movement and athleticism in the penalty box.

 

[Martial]

Yes but it’s not the only strikers missing chances. It’s also the likes of Rashford, Gernacho, Amad and Bruno who are bigger culprits than the strikers.

But it's literally the striker's biggest job.

And our two strikers have contributed 5 league goals between themselves by the end of December. It's completely unforgiveable.

 

[gulli_G]

I don't mind him if we ship off Zirkzee and loan/buy him as a replacement, as long oas we go all in on Gyokeres in the summer. But if it is at the cost of Gyokeres, no.

 

[2 man midfield]

I don't mind him if we ship off Zirkzee and loan/buy him as a replacement, as long oas we go all in on Gyokeres in the summer. But if it is at the cost of Gyokeres, no.

I’m wary of both tbh. Only striker I’ve been really all in on was Harry Kane, but even he had the drawback of being 100m and 30 years old.

 

[Bwuk]

Zirkzee has 3 and Hojlund has 2 goals in the league this season so far.

Osimhen would be a ridiculous upgrade.

 

[Shabby as she goes]

I don't mind him if we ship off Zirkzee and loan/buy him as a replacement, as long oas we go all in on Gyokeres in the summer. But if it is at the cost of Gyokeres, no.

Gyokeres has only scored in Portugal. Yes he destroys the league, but so does Osimhen at Gala.
At least Osimhen has proven himself in a somewhat better league like Italy. Besides that, Osimhen is younger, and most likely less expensive.

Why are you so much more in favor of Gyokeres?

See the overview I made earlier

Osimhen (25). €70M
24/25 P. 15. G. 12. A. 5. 1.13. Turkey
20/24 P. 133. G.76 A. 18. 0.63. Italy
Avg. 0.75

Goykeres (26). €75M
24/25 P. 26. G. 27. A. 5. 1.23. Portugal
23/24 P. 50. G. 43. A. 15. 1.16. Portugal
Avg. 1.18

Kolo Muani (26). €30M
23/25 P. 54. G. 11. A. 7. 0.33. France
22/23. P. 50. G. 26. A. 17. 0.86 Germany
Avg. 0.59

Boniface (24). €45M
23/25. P. 49. G. 29. A. 11. 0.82 Germany
22/23. P. 51. G. 17. A. 12. 0.57. Belgium
Avg. 0.69

Vlahovic (24). €60M
22/25. P. 122. G. 53. A. 11. 0.52. Italy
Avg. 0.52

Marmoush (25). €60M
23/25. P. 65. G. 35. A. 18. 0.82 Germany
Avg. 0.82

David (24). €45M
24/25. P. 26. G. 17. A. 5. 0.85 France
20/24. P. 183. G. 84. A. 18. 0.59. France
Avg. 0.59.

 

[Xeque_279]

Totally concur. I noticed against spurs in the first twenty minutes dalot played two crosses on a six pence that could have just been tapped in if Rasmus had been quicker.

Or maybe it was dalot and bruno. i cannot quite recall. But two passes that should have been tap ins.

It was Bruno, Dalot can't cross. Brilliant crosses into the 6 yard box with no one there to even take a punt at it.

Regarding Osimhen, there should be a way to get him on loan instead, with an option in the summer. Surely it's better for Napoli to have him on loan in the EPL than in the Turkish league? Need to start watching the end of Gala matches to look for any farewells from him

 

[gulli_G]

Gyokeres has only scored in Portugal. Yes he destroys the league, but so does Osimhen at Gala.
At least Osimhen has proven himself in a somewhat better league like Italy. Besides that, Osimhen is younger, and most likely less expensive.

Why are you so much more in favor of Gyokeres?

See the overview I made earlier

I this overview Gyokeres has the best stats, he has played in in the championship and if you see his goals he was able to handle them physicality.

Osimehn is obviously an upgrade to our pl current strikers, but there is a reason no one was interested even in a loan after his Saudi move collapsed. Gyokeres on the other hand has played big clubs in the CL and done good.

All in all, however, if Ruben wants a player I trust his judgement.