Galatasaray of Turkey striker, Victor Osimhen might be farther away from a deal at Arsenal of England than he was when linked with their fellow-London-based English Premier League rivals, Chelsea, who made spirited fruitless efforts to hook the Super Eagles hitman.
Sports247 reports that, while Chelsea appeared to have concrete connections with Osimhen through The Blues’ Nigerian legend, John Mikel Obi and Ivory Coast star, Didier Drogba, Arsenal’s link with the former SSC Napoli of Italy top scorer is apparently based on side talk.
While intial reports linking Arsenal with a possible summer move for Osimhen set social media abuzz in midweek, the immediate frenetic reaction of Gunners’ fans has cooled off considerably, after follow-up information indicated that there’s no direct contact with the player.
This comes a few hours after reports emerged that Osimhen had been mentioned in a summer transfer connection to Arsenal, with speculation swirling round the British media that The Gunners could make a shock swoop for the 2023 African Footballer of The Year.
Talk about Arsenal making a move for Osimhen escalated after a report out of Turkey indicated that some officials of the Emirates Stadium side spoke about the striker during a chance meeting with egg heads from Galatasaray.
That chance encounter has raised permutations about how Arsenal could succeed where their London rivals, Chelsea failed in hooking Osimhen, who has been a sensation since joining Galatasaray from Napoli of Italy in 2024 on an initial loan deal, following which he scored 59 goals in 74 games.
An earlier report out of England further indicated that Arsenal could make a move for Osimhen by adding Nigerian-born youngster, Ethan Nwaneri to a deal alongside Brazilian wonder kid, Gabriel Martinelli in order to pull off a sesnsational swoop for the Chile 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup top scorer.
As it were, Galatasaray have reportedly made a £38.5m bid for Martinelli and hold an interest in Nwaneri, who spent the second half of last season on loan at Olympique Marseille of France, which could, therefore, make both wingers credible props in Arsenal’s likely move for Osimhen.
However, Arsenal’s chances of hooking Osimhen have already been scuttled by Gala’s insistence on keeping the Nigerian striker beyond this summer, with high expectations of another glorious season from the hitman, thereby blocking any hope of a move to Emirates Stadium.
The development also ruled out a move to Saudi Arabia for Osimhen, who had also previously played for VfL Wolfsburg of Germany, Sporting Charleroi of Belgium and Lille Mtropole of France, as Gala are even thinking of pressuring him to accept their captain’s band that he earlier rejected.
A report by UK’s Standard Sport revealed, “Galatasaray have reportedly turned down an offer for Victor Osimhen this summer as they try to sign Arsenal’s Gabriel Martinelli in a verbal offer worth €45m (£38.5m).
“Galatasaray have rejected a €130m (£111m) offer from Saudi Pro League side Al Hilal for Osimhen and have made it very clear that the Nigerian forward is not for sale.
“However, selling Osimhem could more than fuel the Martinelli deal and would leave the side with over £60m to invest in the side who are aiming to build up the squad who lifted the Super Lig last season.”
