Following the arrival of Wout Weghorst at the club during the this month’s transfer window, former English footballer Andy Cole has suggested Victor Osimhen as the striker Manchester United should attempt to sign.
United coach Erik ten Hag was eager to expand his offensive options, therefore Weghorst has signed a loan deal with the Red Devils from Burnley that will last the remainder of the season. But in the summer transfer window, United will probably be back looking for at least one forward.
Andy Cole, who spent six years at Old Trafford and won five Premier League trophies, thinks Osimhen, who has scored 12 goals to propel Napoli to the top of Serie A, is the ideal candidate to fill that position.
After being taken aback by the Red Devils’ decision to sign Weghorst to serve as a replacement through the remainder of the season, he thinks the Nigerian could be the ideal long-term option up-front for the team.
“I think like everybody else, I was a bit surprised. He had a very good World Cup, scoring a couple of goals against Argentina, and he’s done well at Besiktas, but it’s come from nowhere”, Cole told Betway.
“I think the interesting thing is what the manager is looking for because Weghorst is 6’6”, which is different from the usual profile of United strikers. If you think back to Ruud van Nistelrooy, and myself, we were off-the-shoulder strikers.
“(Anthony) Martial has been the same more recently. It’s interesting that they’ve brought in somebody like this now because I’d thought he’d want a different profile in the summer. You want to be getting crosses into Weghorst, rather than getting him away in behind.
“I think Victor Osimhen at Napoli is very good and could be the long-term natural fit. The question is whether Napoli would be prepared to let him go. He’s rangy, got a good first touch, scores goals, and is a decent size as well. I watched him play against Liverpool and he was more than prepared to link the play and then run in behind.”
So far this season, Osimhen is enjoying his best run for Napoli since joining for a record fee in 2020 and there could be more to come for the player before the end of the season.
Osimhen has netted 13 goals in 18 appearances for Napoli this season.
In his third season with the Italian club, a further look at the stats from the previous season shows that the player has dwarfed his numbers from the two previous seasons, and could be on his way to setting a remarkable club record at this rate.
In just 14 Serie A appearances this season, Osimhen has scored 12 goals, surpassing the total number of goals he scored in the league in his first season, (10 goals in 24 appearances), while he is two goals shy of the total number of league goals he scored last season (14 goals in 27 appearances).
Having just played about half the number of games he played in each of the previous seasons, Osimhen’s tally could well be doubled with his current 1.3 goals per game rate.
