Victor Osimhen: The Inevitable Striker's Journey Across Europe
Victor Osimhen has spent most of his career making each step up look inevitable. Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, now Turkey. Every stop has ended the same way: with goals and a bigger club circling.
The Nigerian’s European story truly caught fire in Belgium with Charleroi, where a loan spell turned potential into production. Lille came next, a sharp, hungry forward terrorising Ligue 1 defences in 2019-20 and forcing his way into the consciousness of Europe’s elite. From there, Napoli paid big and got their reward.
In Naples, Osimhen became a champion and a symbol. Across the 2022-23 season, he struck 31 times in all competitions and dragged Napoli to a long-awaited Serie A title, ending a 33-year wait and etching his name alongside the club’s modern greats. That kind of campaign doesn’t go unnoticed in England.
Premier League scouts watched. And kept watching. Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea all weighed up moves, aware that this was a centre-forward with the raw materials to bully any back line in the division: pace to burn, a ferocious leap, and a finish that rarely wavers when the chance is clean.
The move to England never came. Instead, Osimhen landed in Istanbul, where the pressure is different but no less intense. Galatasaray demanded a star. They got one. The numbers since his arrival in Turkey are staggering: 65 goals in 78 appearances, a strike rate that underlines why Europe’s heavyweights refuse to look away.
For some, the fit with the Premier League feels obvious. For Andrew Cole, a man who understands the weight of the No.9 shirt at Old Trafford better than most, the equation is simple: Osimhen scores, wherever he goes.
“He does. He scores goals,” the 1999 Treble winner told GOAL, speaking in association with Unibet. “He scored goals in Italy and he's scoring goals in Turkey as well.”
Cole, though, knows transfers are never just about the highlight reel.
“There’s many different factors in signing a player from a respective country,” he said. “It's not all about just the salary or the transfer fee. There could be many different things that go on. If he does come to the Premier League, which I think he will be very good in the Premier League, you never know who he'll go to.”
That uncertainty hasn’t stopped the noise around Manchester United. The club’s search for a ruthless, ready-made striker has become a recurring theme of every transfer window, and some of their former players are no longer whispering their preference.
Patrice Evra, never shy about what he thinks United need, cut straight to the point when asked what must change at Old Trafford.
“A striker, someone who scores a goal,” he told GOAL. “I think that's what I'm looking at. That's why for me, Osimhen is the best. He’s a perfect example.”
Louis Saha, another ex-United forward who knows the scrutiny that comes with leading the line in Manchester, has been just as emphatic in his admiration. For him, Osimhen is not just a goalscorer; he is a personality, a presence.
“I really like Victor Osimhen. He's definitely got the character, he's got the quality,” the former France international said. “He’s also got good European pedigree: he was a success in France, he was a champion in Italy with Napoli and he’s gone to Turkey with Galatasaray and been brilliant, a move that he probably didn't want, let's be honest.”
The pattern is clear: new league, same output. It’s that consistency which convinces Saha that Osimhen would be more than just another big-name signing.
“He’s scored goals at every level. He’s got Champions League experience, and further more, he’s got the type of personality and charisma that this United squad could really benefit from.
“I think he would be a transformational signing for Manchester United. If you think about the pressure that he was under at Napoli, firing the club to its first title in 33 years, then he’s the perfect man to lead the line for Manchester United. I think he would have a huge impact at United. I would love to see the club hierarchy move for him, I think he is exactly what we need.”
So the picture is set. A 27-year-old striker in his prime, scoring relentlessly in Turkey, proven in France and Italy, shaped by pressure and expectation, and openly coveted by some of the biggest voices from Old Trafford’s past.
The only question now is whether one of England’s giants finally turns admiration into action, or whether Victor Osimhen keeps rewriting his story somewhere else.
