Man Utd make 'verbal contract offer' to sign 131-goal striker as Red Devils 'agree' to pay £65m fee
The latest Manchester United transfer news and rumours after Sunday’s loss to Tottenham Hotspur
Manchester United’s inconsistent run of form in the Premier League continued on Sunday as they were beaten 1-0 by Tottenham Hotspur in North London on Sunday afternoon.
The Red Devils managed to have 16 shots, with six on target as they were denied by a combination of poor finishing and some strong saves from Guglielmo Vicario in the Spurs goal. Ruben Amorim’s side are 15th in the table with 29 points from 25 games and with a goal difference of minus seven.
Scoring goals has been a big issue for United, with just 28 in their 25 league games so far. Only four teams - Everton, Ipswich Town, Leicester City and Southampton - have scored fewer with three of those teams in the relegation zone. United did look to address that problem in January as they targeted a new striker.
Mathys Tel was of interest but he eventually made the move to Tottenham while Christopher Nkunku was another target before he opted to stay with Chelsea as he looked to prove himself at Stamford Bridge.
‘Verbal offer’ made to Osimhen
A striker remains among Amorim’s targets for the summer transfer window and the latest big name United are said to be looking at is Napoli striker Victor Osimhen. The Nigerian international is currently on loan at Turkish club Galatasaray but looks set to leave the club at the end of the season amid interest from the Red Devils and Paris Saint-Germain.
Turkish journalist Yağız Sabuncuoğlu from Sports Digitale shared on update on Osimhen’s future over the weekend. A departure from Galatasaray is ‘likely’ with United and PSG already putting forth verbal contract offers to the player while both clubs are said to have agreed to pay his Napoli release clause.
Osimhen’s release clause at Napoli was reported to be over £100m last summer but that will drop to around £65m come the end of the season, according to Teamtalk. The forward has 131 foals and 32 assists in 246 games at club level and has enjoyed a fine season at Galatasaray so far. He has netted 17 times in 32 games for the Turkish club.
Amorim on lack of goals
After Sunday’s loss to Tottenham, Amorim felt the biggest difference was a lack of cutting edge from his side. He said: "It was the biggest difference of the game, they (Tottenham) scored and we didn't. We had the opportunities to score, then in the first half we pushed a little bit harder. We suffered in some transitions trying to get a result, but in the end they scored and we didn’t.
“We need to put the ball in the net because we had some chances, we created some chances which is the hardest part. In some games we are there near the box but we don’t create chances. Today we created the chances but we need to score to win games.”