Name a world class striker, any world class striker, and there’s a good chance he has been compared to Victor Osimhen in the past 18 months.
Kylian Mbappe? Check. Didier Drogba? Yes and yes. Edinson Cavani? Absolutely.
And if the irrepressible Nigeria international maintains the remarkable start he’s made to his second season at the Stadio San Paolo, it won’t be just Lorenzo Insigne pointing out the similarities between a Napoli legend and their current number nine.
“Victor is an attacker who has great speed and can represent a different solution for the attack,” Napoli skipper Insigne said last year after Osimhen became the club’s all-time record signing in a £51 million deal from Lille.
“In some places, he reminds me of Cavani for his ability to attack the goal and physical strength.”
With six goals in six games so far, Osimhen has fired Napoli to the top of the Serie A table.
Drogba himself would have been proud of the way Osimhen ripped Leicester City’s defence apart in the second half of a thrilling Europa League group-stage clash at the King Power Stadium a fortnight ago, turning a 2-0 deficit into a 2-2 draw with a marvellous individual strike and a gravity-defying header.
Could Arsenal really sign Victor Osimhen?
And the question on the lips of every Arsenal supporter today has been whether one of the most in-form goalscorers in European football has slipped through their grasp for good.
“You must know Osimhen was followed by Arsenal. He was very close to the Gunners,” Italian journalist Paolo Bargiggia told 1 Sport Radio.
“But Cristiano Giuntoli (Napoli’s sporting director) spoke with Aurelio De Laurentiis and the president broke the delay. So Napoli decided and managed to buy him.”
Bargiggia is convinced if Osimhen continues his current form it will take a fee similar to the £97.5 million Chelsea paid for Romelu Lukaku to get him out of Napoli.
Arsenal managed to juggle finances to seal a record deal for Nicolas Pepe two years ago, agreeing to pay the £72 million fee over five years.
Surely the only hope they have of luring Osimhen from Napoli is to pull off something similar.
Unlikely, but not impossible.
Here’s what some Arsenal supporters on Twitter had to say about the Victor Osimhen links:
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