- As Saudi club Al Hilal table €130m for the Nigerian striker
Arsenal have reportedly opened talks with Galatasaray over the possibility of signing Victor Osimhen before the summer transfer window ends.
This was disclosed on Thursday by Matt Law, Football News Correspondent with the UK website, The Telegraph.
“Victor Osimhen’s availability has been raised between Arsenal and Galatasaray amid discussions regarding the Turkish club’s interest in Gabriel Martinelli and Ethan Nwaneri,” Law disclosed.
“Galatasaray have made a £38.4m offer for Martinelli and indicated an interest in Nwaneri, who spent the second half of last season on loan at Marseille, amid wide-ranging talks with Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta.
“Those discussions are believed to have included the possible scenario of Osimhen moving to Arsenal, although it is unclear if that was raised by Berta or whether the striker was essentially offered to the Premier League champions.”
Arsenal have, meanwhile, held a long-standing interest in Osimhen, as far back as when the Nigerian international won the FIFA Under-17 World Cup with the Golden Eaglets in 2015.
It is on record that the Gunners’ legendary manager, Arsene Wenger, was highly interested in the 27-year-old but Osimhen eventually joined Wolfsburg.
Osimhen confirmed that Wenger spoke with him directly following the Under-17 tournament to pitch a move to Arsenal.
“I spoke with Arsene Wenger, and he wanted me to come to Arsenal, but it was not the best option at the time,” the striker said.
The forward also attracted attention from top European clubs like Barcelona, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid, and Juventus.
Osimhen turned down the offer because he wanted immediate first-team football as soon as he turned 18, rather than joining a massive club where regular minutes weren’t guaranteed.
He opted to sign for Wolfsburg instead, believing Germany offered a better environment to invest in his game and improve physically at that stage of his career.
Having developed and won a lot of trophies with clubs such as Sporting Charleroi of Belgium, Lille of France, Napoli of Italy and Galatasaray of Turkey, Arsenal now believe that Osimhen will be an upgrade on the pair of strikers, Victor Gyokeres and Gabriel Jesus.
Meanwhile, Saudi Pro League club Al Hilal have offered Galatasaray €130m for their top striker, Osimhen.
According to Sky Sports’ Florian Plettenberg, the Turkish Super Lig champions received the offer on Wednesday through an intermediary acting for Al Hilal.
Plettenberg, who disclosed this in a post on X on Thursday, noted that the proposal was made verbally rather than as a formal written bid and Galatasaray rejected the offer.
He wrote, “Galatasaray were offered €130m for Victor Osimhen yesterday via an intermediary acting for Al-Hilal.
“The offer was made verbally. Galatasaray are not willing to negotiate at this stage and have no intention of entering talks.”
Galatasaray paid Napoli €75m to make Osimhen’s move to Istanbul permanent last year.