Victor Osimhen was a hot topic throughout the summer transfer window, yet when it closed, the Nigerian striker remained at Napoli.
Chelsea made a late attempt to sign him on deadline day but failed, and some reports now suggest he could be moving to Galatasaray.
Osimhen had been on Arsenal’s shortlist for a long time, as the Gunners were looking to sign a new striker to strengthen their options at the Emirates.
Mikel Arteta’s side eventually signed a defender and a midfielder before adding Raheem Sterling late in the transfer window to bolster their attack.
Arsenal has still not signed a striker and will rely on Kai Havertz when Gabriel Jesus is injured, as is the case at the moment.
But how close did Arsenal come to signing Osimhen in the last transfer window?
Fabrizio Romano has now revealed that the Gunners were offered the chance to sign him, but they opted against it due to his release clause, which was set at €120/130 million.
He said on his YouTube channel:
“Let me also say that at the beginning of the summer at the beginning of the summer transfer window. Arsenal were also offered the possibility to sign Victor Osimhen at the time at the value of the release clause €120/130m. Arsenal immediately decided against that opportunity.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
Osimhen could have been a good signing for us, but that is a huge fee to pay for him.
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Good player, but honestly that is too much for someone who’s had no experience in the premier league. Too much of a gamble for my taste, so I’m not upset at all. However, for 55-60 million, it would be worth having internal conversations in the club, IMHO.
let’s get this right, Arsenal and every other club in Europe decided against Osimhen
just like Toney had no bids in Europe, that’s right zero bids
Gyrokeres the same, no reported bids, or even credible rumours of suitors making moves
ask yourself, not signing these “elite clinical strikers” is not Arsenal missing out, Arsenal only misses out if these “elite clinical strikers” signed for someone else, which they clearly did not and were nowhere near so given no bids!
so no club in Europe convinced these names are “elite clinical strikers” worth the money either, sounds like Edu made the popular decision in terms of informed professional football community, but unpopular with some parts of fan base…
His quality is still amazing but Napoli really screwed up this transfer situation not only demanding I’m excess of 120 million, but when a 70m euros was done by the Saudi club they ended up changing.
Now what are they left with, Osimhen on loan to Galatasary with only his wages covered, when he’s one of their best players.
Frankly I wish Arsenal had taken this loan opportunity, but oh well.
It’s also been reported that chelsea offered Mudryk to The Arsenal on a season long loan, but we opted for Sterling instead.
Blimey
Which is a little strange (I know, it’s Chelsea) since they were rotating those two during the preseason games.
I have this feeling that, one day, we will see Mudryk wearing the red and white shirt.
I have no idea why I should think that, but it just seems inevitable somehow.
I do agree with Arsenal1886 regarding the strikers – if MA wanted one of those available, he would have got him.
I just hope it doesn’t come back to haunt him, but Sterling should play a big part in ensuring that doesn’t happen, with plenty of goals and assists while he’s at the club.
I think Arsenal wanted a striker – and needs one – but Osimhen’s reported fee and/or wage demands always made him an unlikely choice.
That said, he wasn’t the only one (even if you exclude the other “usual suspects” like Toney and Gyrokeres) who was available – or certainly may have been with negotiation.
So, it’s not the case that it was one of them or nobody. Indeed, there’s a sensible economic argument for not going for such a high profile/high cost signing with Havertz in place (who is also the club’s highest earner).
That doesn’t diminish the fact that Arsenal remains light in strikers. Yes, Sterling is an interesting addition to the overall attack, but nobody knows how he’ll perform over the season. Opinion is certainly split on JA. Only time will tell.
Like an earlier post, I too hope Arsenal’s failure to strengthen their squad with a striker doesn’t come back to haunt them. If it doesn’t, then it will be great news and Edu’s decision will have been fully justified. if it does though, there can’t be any excuses because (almost) everyone saw it was a big weakness that wasn’t addressed although there were ten weeks of the transfer window to do so. Fingers crossed.
Am not really sure what was going on in the mind of Arteta/Edu & mgmnt. In the last days of the window Napoli was desperate and was ready to take 65-70m euros Al-Ahli offered.
IF Romano is correct that Arsenal had enquired early in the window & was put-off by the 120M then, why was it so hard to go back in the last 2 days when Napoli was desperate.
Am seriously worried with Jesus who you can bet will probably have few more injuries in the course of the season even if comes back after international window. Nketia’s 30M would have meant similar top up to go get him. On Salary (Nkeita 120k + Nelson 100K, Ramsdale 100k) we were almost covered on the rumored 300k salary he wanted. …. An Oisimen, Havert & Jesus Stricker options would have meant center forward is sorted.
Lastly Oisimen being 25, you would know we would still have a ready Saudi market to take him next summer for close to the same amount if he did not work at Arsenal.
Anyway, that’s by gone but next few weeks will be tough especially with our forwards not being clinical and light weight centra mid after Rice red. A loss or draw at Spurs & loss at City will mean we will be 6-8 points behind City/Pool five games in!!! Now that will bring back tension at the emirates and a mountain to climb early in the league.