Bunmi Ogunyale
Premier League giants, Manchester United and Newcastle have entered race for the signature of in-form Victor Osimhen, according to reports in the French media.
French Regional newspaper based in Lille, La Voix du Nord claimed that Manchester United is one of the teams monitoring the performance of the Lille hotshot, with a view to a transfer to the Premier League club.
The Red Devils were in the market for a striker ahead of the reopening of the transfer window and had been linked with the likes of Aleksandr Sobolev, Callum Wilson, Moussa Dembele and Mario Mandzukic.
Manchester United was mentioned as one of the possible destinations for Osimhen, after he won the Golden Boot at the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup, but former head of youth player recruitment, Derek Langley later refuted the reports.
Newcastle had also set its sights on acquiring the services of Nigerian international. Osimhen is the darling of several European clubs at the moment, as the Chronicles confirmed that Newcastle United scouts were keeping tabs on the young but exciting Lille star.
Earlier last week, news broke out that Barcelona had jumped ahead of the queue of clubs seeking to snap Osimhen away from Lille, as the Catalonia giants began to prepare for post-Suarez.
Osimhen enjoyed a breakthrough season last term at Sporting Charleroi, where he banged in 20 goals in just his first season in Belgium.
The 20-year-old was quickly snapped up by Lille in the summer as a replacement for Portugal’s Leao, who left for AC Milan.
But the former Wolfsburg lad had, however, been compared frequently to the prolific Nicolas Pepe, who departed for Arsenal in a £72m deal, having netted eight goals in 11 appearances for the Ligue 1 side this season.
Osimhen only joined Lille from Belgian outfit, Charleroi for £10.8million.
Newcastle manager, Steve Bruce will have money available to spend in January and he may look to do a deal for the Nigerian if possible.
Named the French Ligue 1 Player of the Month for September, the Super Eagles star had had a blistering start to the campaign in which he had scored