How accurate is the talk of Osimhen being distinctly average in the build-up? Slightly concerning for the money we're talking about, especially as we're moving towards being a team that dominates possession high in the opposition final third.
You don't need your CF to be particularly gifted in the build-up to dominate possession high in the opposition third. After all, he won't be the one building play. He just needs to be proficient enough at hold up play and linking with others.
It's not an accident that Napoli themselves are the most possession-dominant side in their league, have the most tackles in the final third (even while making the 6th fewest tackles overall), have the most touches in the final third, etc etc. You can also look at ETH's previous physicality-first strikers, who weren't exactly master technicians themselves.
What Osimhen
can't do that someone like Kane can to a very high level is actively drop out of the CF position into deeper positions to create for others by spraying the ball around. But that's not something our current team particularly needs from its centre-forward given what we've mostly lacked this season is threat
in the box. If we signed Kane we'd need him to
stop dropping deep in the way he has in some recent seasons at Spurs.
Last season at Ajax Haller had the 3rd fewest passes and 6th fewest touches per 90min out of a squad of 30 players. Even for touches in the attacking third he was only 15th. That puts into context how often a CF in that sort of set-up is
actually involved in general play relative to the rest of the team.