Victor Osimhen

[Herschel Krustofsky]

We rolled two dices wrong, simultaneously. Somehow. I'd rather go for the finished articles now until we have a settled squad.

They are all dice rolls, irrespective of age / price. And always have been.

The sooner some wake up to this reality the better.

 

[Smores]

The general idea was buy younger, yes, but that is not close to saying they were the solution, lessons learned.

Zirkzee has done alright though. Højlund wasn't even bought when Ratcliffe joined, years before.

It's not about talent levels it's about experience in retrospect we could have done with a more experienced striker. That should be the lesson.

Obviously it'd be great to sign a young striker who plays beyond his years but there's very few who do.

Loads on here said we shouldn't sign peak age players because they'll be too old by the time we're competitive. Ignoring that we won't get competitive without a team that has experience.

 

[Hammondo]

It's not about talent levels it's about experience in retrospect we could have done with a more experienced striker. That should be the lesson.

Obviously it'd be great to sign a young striker who plays beyond his years but there's very few who do.

Loads on here said we shouldn't sign peak age players because they'll be too old by the time we're competitive. Ignoring that we won't get competitive without a team that has experience.

Well we get stuck with players on high wages, we can't sell them, and it leads to the shitty financial situation we are in.

 

[Shark]

The general idea was buy younger, yes, but that is not close to saying they were the solution, lessons learned.

Zirkzee has done alright though. Højlund wasn't even bought when Ratcliffe joined, years before.

Zirkzee hasn't really done anything of note statistically. He's neat on the ball at times alright. Both signings are way off United standard regardless of their age. What would you rather is do, never sign 25-30 your old attackers again?

 

[aeh1991]

Bruno wasn't really world class at the time.

But then you have to varying degrees

Casemiro
Lukaku
Pogba
Sanchez
Sancho
Antony

Not necessarily in their prime, but players we bought for big money and struggled to move on due to wages/PSR hit. Osimhen has never played in the PL and we don't know how much he'd fit the system, we need to come away from this Woodward-esque transfer policy, not get distracted by shiny things.

And that's not even going into down the path of a) his wages and b) how much we'd have to pay to get him.

We can't keep spending a Europa League sized budget on Champions League players. That's why we're in this mess.

You can't compare him to players who won everything and were already showing signs of decline when they joined us (Case, Varane), who have serious character issues (Pogba, Sancho) or are simply not good enough (Antony). Osimhen is in his prime and proven in several top leagues. He also suits this system well and is pacey enough to cope with the league. I have more concerns with Gyokeres or Sesko who I both still would take.

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

He’s on a late minute loan move to Galatasaray. The choice was go on loan to Turkiye or spend the season (at least until January) not playing.

He’s on a large salary at Napoli. After being a key component in winning the league title, he wanted a move away to a bigger side. Throughout the season he was doing little bait and hints about wanting bigger and better things, similarly the Napoli chairman is a bit of a mentalist wanker who wasn’t happy with that. I think he had links to Chelsea deep into the summer, but the move never materialised. At that point it was too late for another big club to pay the big transfer fee + match his salary demands. Hence the panic move to Turkiye on loan (where, as mentioned in this thread, salary tax is lower hence easier move along).

He is now linked with a move “in his prime to us or another big club”.

Worth clarifying that for most of Europe that transfer deadline had passed, and hence why Turkey was one of very few options as their window closed later.

 

[Idxomer]

You can't compare him to players who won everything and were already showing signs of decline when they joined us (Case, Varane), who have serious character issues (Pogba, Sancho) or are simply not good enough (Antony). Osimhen is in his prime and proven in several top leagues. He also suits this system well and is pacey enough to cope with the league. I have more concerns with Gyokeres or Sesko who I both still would take.

It's just Serie A and Ligue 1, the latter's status as a top league is also questionable. His stats in the Turkish league aren't as exceptional as you would expect either, and are in line with other top scorers there.

I think dropping 60m on him plus top wages is a huge gamble. He has one year left on his contract, and there's no way back for him with Napoli. He shouldn't be costing that much.

 

[Hammondo]

Zirkzee hasn't really done anything of note statistically. He's neat on the ball at times alright. Both signings are way off United standard regardless of their age. What would you rather is do, never sign 25-30 your old attackers again?

His general play makes him one of our best 10s. Even if he's not good enough, he won't be difficult to sell. In fact we could make a profit.

 

[dinostar77]

Jamie Jackson (guardian) said in his article that delap is the prime target for striker. However if we can shift more players out and we can fund it, there is also interest in bringing in osiheim.

Whether that means buying both delap and osiheim or the latter is a fallback option incase delap rejects us I have no idea.

 

[croadyman]

Fabrizio claims we're still interested and qualifying for the ucl could decide if we splash the cash.

Yeah interest is coming from him and noise from very dodgy Turkish sources related to Fenerbahce.

 

[Shark]

His general play makes him one of our best 10s. Even if he's not good enough, he won't be difficult to sell. In fact we could make a profit.

That's true.

 

[Gandalf]

His general play makes him one of our best 10s. Even if he's not good enough, he won't be difficult to sell. In fact we could make a profit.

This is why he potentially is more likely to leave this summer than Hojlund. He was a lesser risk as the fee was fairly sensible and he has probably retained his value making him easy to move if it is decided he is not the ideal fit for the system and we want to get someone else.

 

[croadyman]

This is why he potentially is more likely to leave this summer than Hojlund. He was a lesser risk as the fee was fairly sensible and he has probably retained his value making him easy to move if it is decided he is not the ideal fit for the system and we want to get someone else.

Would rather keep Zirkzee than Hojlund

 

[Raoul]

This is why he potentially is more likely to leave this summer than Hojlund. He was a lesser risk as the fee was fairly sensible and he has probably retained his value making him easy to move if it is decided he is not the ideal fit for the system and we want to get someone else.

I can't see Zirkzee leaving. He seems to have settled into the squad and has been quite effective when deployed in certain tactical situations. He's the sort of player who you want in your squad as long as you're not relying on him to score a bulk of your goals. Hojlund on the other hand, has been objectively abysmal and should leave immediately to rehabilitate his career at a smaller club with less pressure.

 

[Gandalf]

I can't see Zirkzee leaving. He seems to have settled into the squad and has been quite effective when deployed in certain tactical situations. He's the sort of player who you want in your squad as long as you're not relying on him to score a bulk of your goals. Hojlund on the other hand, has been objectively abysmal and should leave immediately to rehabilitate his career at a smaller club with less pressure.

I totally take your point but outside of looking good on the pitch Zirkzee has actually got the same number of assists and one fewer goals than Hojlund from a fairly similar number of minutes. I don't think either one is giving us what we need and both would need to do a whole lot more to justify a place in the team going forward. Each has 3 PL goals this season which is abysmal playing as a 9 or a 10 and is not going to cut it if we are going to be higher than 15th next season if we are being honest. The major difference at this point is in the fee where we paid almost twice as much for Hojlund and are therefore more restricted in our options when it comes to moving someone on.

This is categorically not about who is better but more about the financial realities of the upcoming window where in order to make the signings we want we might have to sell Zirkzee as he may actually generate a small profit in both real and accounting terms whereas Rasmus would almost certainly be a loss this summer in both metrics. The answer might be to loan Rasmus and avoid the PSR hit by keeping his book value on the ledger whilst getting a loan fee from someone like Napoli but that is going to come down to the money guys making the right deals, at least his salary is low so we won't need to contribute anything to his wage if he is loaned.

 

[croadyman]

Interesting to see McDonnell going against the British media grain by saying Osimhen over Delap. Mind you that £40m price sounds highly unrealistic so best to ignore.

Think Wheeler has now suggested in latest article he could come as part of swap deal which would take Hojlund to Napoli.

 

[Rolaholic]

 

[Yagami]

I can't see Zirkzee leaving. He seems to have settled into the squad and has been quite effective when deployed in certain tactical situations. He's the sort of player who you want in your squad as long as you're not relying on him to score a bulk of your goals. Hojlund on the other hand, has been objectively abysmal and should leave immediately to rehabilitate his career at a smaller club with less pressure.

And he seems to have a good head on his shoulders. Many a player would've shrunk after being booed off the pitch by their own fans a few months into a difficult debut season, but he knuckled down and improved.

 

[Raoul]

And he seems to have a good head on his shoulders. Many a player would've shrunk after being booed off the pitch by their own fans a few months into a difficult debut season, but he knuckled down and improved.

Agreed

 

[Rasmus_9]

Just scored a beautiful header. Can’t remember the last time one of our strikers got on the end of a cross??

 

[AaronRedDevil]

Disappointed we are probably getting Delap instead of him. But I guess his wages might be a problem.

 

[Rolaholic]

And he seems to have a good head on his shoulders. Many a player would've shrunk after being booed off the pitch by their own fans a few months into a difficult debut season, but he knuckled down and improved.

Yea he's definitely come off as a good cookie even in the face of quite a fair share of adversity in his first season with us.

You need those types of determined characters in your dressing room. We would do well to keep him as a squad option, he also offers quite a bit more off the bench than Hojlund for me.

 

[SER19]

Just scored a beautiful header. Can’t remember the last time one of our strikers got on the end of a cross??

Zirkzee got one against Sociedad away, but yeah - I honestly cant remember us playing with a striker who I felt might head the ball, let alone score. It is staggering how poor weve gotten in that area. Zlatan was good there, and Osimhen to me is just a throwback 9 who teammates would love knowing is there. The weight it takes off players knowing there is a teammate who might only need a half chance to score. Its very much leading from the front.

If we signed cunha and osimhen and did nothing else in terms of players in, it would still be very good.

A line up for some games of: Onana- Yoro-De Ligt- Heaven - Diallo-Ugarte-Mainoo-Dorgu- Fernandes- Cunha- Osimhen is simply a different proposition to what we're doing now. Potentially a healthy bench there too. (take your pick of whatever defenders youd want I just put in yoro and heaven as young fast options beside deligt or martinez)

 

[Rolaholic]

Getting Osimhen and Cunha in somehow would have us right back in the thick of things again next season.

Really can't afford to strike out on an Osimhen or Gyokeres this summer

 

[Giggsyking]

I gave up on Gyokeres, so I will gladly take Osimhen. No Delap please.

 

[Hammondo]

Getting Osimhen and Cunha in somehow would have us right back in the thick of things again next season.

Really can't afford to strike out on an Osimhen or Gyokeres this summer

In of thick of things you mean?

 

[Cathy Ferguson]

He is strong in the air, absolutely rapid but isn't he quite wasteful?

 

[OverratedOpinion]

I gave up on Gyokeres, so I will gladly take Osimhen. No Delap please.

I have nothing to back it up but I can see us signing a striker out of nowhere that hasn't really been mentioned.

I'd be shocked if we don't end up strongly linked to David from Lille. I see a lot of people who have watched him far more than me say he isn't good enough. I just think given our finances there is no way we don't take a serious look at someone with his scoring record and age on a free.

 

[Andy_Cole]

He is strong in the air, absolutely rapid but isn't he quite wasteful?

Strong in the air is vital I think.

 

[Gandalf]

I have nothing to back it up but I can see us signing a striker out of nowhere that hasn't really been mentioned.

I'd be shocked if we don't end up strongly linked to David from Lille. I see a lot of people who have watched him far more than me say he isn't good enough. I just think given our finances there is no way we don't take a serious look at someone with his scoring record and age on a free.

David has been pretty open about wanting to go to La Liga, even stating that he doesn't really enjoy PL football. He is twerking hard for Barcelona and although he is not really good enough for them it would be a very Barca like move to scoop him up on a free and then try to sell him in January.

 

[dinostar77]

Would love him at Utd. How come every other report of his price is £75mil circa and this article says £40mil.

 

[Rasmus_9]

He is strong in the air, absolutely rapid but isn't he quite wasteful?

I’d love United to sign a wasteful striker that’s able to knock in 30 goals in 35 games- my dream

 

[Rasmus_9]

Would love him at Utd. How come every other report of his price is £75mil circa and this article says £40mil.

I think they were trying to say he’s in the last year of his contract when actually they took out an option to extend it to two years. Essentially they’re talking BS

 

[croadyman]

Just scored a beautiful header. Can’t remember the last time one of our strikers got on the end of a cross??

Yeah this is probably the main reason I want to sign him over Delap, ok he may not have the build up play but neither does Haaland

 

[Gandalf]

Would love him at Utd. How come every other report of his price is £75mil circa and this article says £40mil.

Because it is made up nonsense.

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

Sort of strange how people seem against spending big money on a known/proven goalscorer, but are also clamoring for a top striker?

I'd be thrilled with Osimhen or Gyokeres if Cunha is accompanying them as well honestly. That's a fantastic start to reshaping our attack. Throw in Cherki and all of the sudden our prospects are MUCH different.

Delap is more of a consolation prize. I wouldn't mind bringing him in and like the player, but as some others have already said at some point you need prime aged players in your starting XI. It gets tougher to play nothing but young guns especially in attack if all of them are still trying to develop/find their footing at the same time at this level.

 

[croadyman]

Because it is made up nonsense.

Yeah most reliable sources are saying it hinges on either a Garnacho sale or Europa League prize money. So frustrating we haven't got the money to just get him and Cunha now.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

He and Cunha would be amazing, and a duo that'd strike fear into opposing defences.

 

[DWelbz19]

He’s fast, strong, and a freak in the air. I think he’ll take to this league like a duck to water.

 

[croadyman]

He’s fast, strong, and a freak in the air. I think he’ll take to this league like a duck to water.

Send that to our senior board members