It’s a badly-kept secret that Manchester United are looking for a striker this summer. It’s an even worse-kept one that Napoli are looking to sell their world-class front man, Victor Osimhen, for a non-negotiable price of €75 million. His relationship with president Aurelio de Laurentiis is broken and he has one year left on his contract, so he simply must be sold.
Most United fans would probably give their eye teeth to see the Nigerian in a red shirt, yet INEOS themselves have remained surprisingly quiet on the issue. There have been reports saying his “profile” does not fit, whilst others claim there is now some interest after the Red Devils missed out on their number one target, Liam Delap, to Chelsea.
Whatever United’s intentions, yesterday they appeared to have become a moot point, when news broke that Osimhen had accepted an eye-watering €35m-per-year contract (£576,000 per week) plus bonuses with Saudi Arabian club Al-Hilal, who just needed to up their offer to Napoli a little to meet that €75 million demand.
A medical was booked for the weekend and having missed out on United’s own Bruno Fernandes, the Saudis were ready to make Osi their marquee signing and unveil him at the forthcoming Club World Cup.
Unlike Fernandes, Osimhen seemed to have chosen money over football, sacrificing the chance to play in Europe’s big leagues. Turkish side Galatasaray were trying to put up some competition to the Riyadh outfit at the last minute, but the die appeared to have been cast.
Osimhen is reluctant Over the course of the last 12 hours or so, it has emerged that in fact Victor has not given his green light to the deal. Al-Hilal, it would seem, were a bit previous in booking the medical.
Journalist Ben Jacobs said yesterday evening that while the Saudis were ready to trigger the €75m release clause, “Osimhen has a scheduled medical, but is yet to answer Al-Hilal.”
Jacobs claimed that Al-Hilal had in fact made a third and final offer to the 26 year old of €40 million (£648,000 per week) plus bonuses. Yet they still had not received a firm yes from him.
“Galatasaray have made a competitive offer and Osimhen has European suitors,” Jacobs added. “Hilal have made it clear he must answer before the Club World Cup and are expecting clarity within 24 hours.”
Al-Hilal are ready to pay Victor Osimhen’s €75m release clause. There is a verbal agreement now in place with Napoli.
Osimhen has a scheduled medical, but is yet to answer Al-Hilal.
Understand Osimhen has now had three offers from Hilal, the last of which was made on Friday… pic.twitter.com/IliIosN66g
— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) June 7, 2025
This morning’s paper edition of Corriere dello Sport (page 14) partially corroborates Jacobs’ claims.
CDS say that “Osimhen has not yet accepted Al-Hilal’s salary offer and therefore the transfer, despite a last frightening increase of 35 million euros per season with bonuses”. They also note that “Osi has not definitively said no to Galatasaray.”
“For the moment the only certainty is that Osimhen has officially begun his vacation in Nigeria [having] jumped on a jet bound for Lagos.”
Unlike Jacobs, CDS claim that the €40 million a year salary offer has not yet arrived and could be what Osimhen is waiting for. The tightness of the 48 hour deadline plays in his favour.
This indeed might be the case, although the outlet notes that the player had “not yet resolved his reservations and was still hesitating despite everything.”
Gazzetta dello Sport, in their Sunday morning paper edition (page 16), strike a more positive note, stating that “Osi has (almost) said yes: twenty-six million was not enough, let’s proceed with thirty-five.” (Their brackets).
So, with the clock ticking and his dream salary package on the table, why is the big man hesitating? Is it merely to squeeze a few extra bars of Latinum out of his rich suitors, or is it that, like Fernandes, he really wants to put football ahead of money and is holding out for a last-minute intervention from a top European side?
Could it be a come-and-get me plea to the likes of United?
What is United’s plan? The Red Devils have gone unusually quiet in regard to their striker quest. We simply can’t tell at this stage whether they genuinely have turned their back on the chance to sign Osimhen, whether they have had any offers refused by him or indeed by Napoli, or whether they are still hanging in there by the slimmest of threads.
Their other options hardly seem as appealing; Sporting’s Viktor Gyokeres is available for a similar price, but United do not seem to have progressed far in that direction either. They are showing few signs of pursuing free agent Jonathan David. There have been links to Crystal Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta, available for around £40 million, and even Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Since Delap, there does not seem to be a strong push in any direction.
Putting everything together, the sense is that Osimhen still dreams of playing in the Premier League and would not expect anything like the same salary package that Al-Hilal are offering to do so. By the same token, he would not want to say no to the Arab riches in the absence of an offer from one of Europe’s leading clubs.
We will not have long to wait to get our answer. The Club World Cup deadline is Al Hilal’s deadline, and that is immovable: it is Tuesday. If United still have a card to play in this high-stakes poker game, they are certainly keeping it very close to their chest until the very last minute.
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Red Billy Red Billy is the managing editor of The Peoples Person, author of three books and totally obsessed with football’s transfer market. Billy still insists Matteo Darmian and Alex Telles could have made it at United given half a chance.
