Looks like Osimhen could be edging closer to a move to Saudi. Total waste of a talent if he goes. 25 years old.
Better there than Chelsea. I think he would have massively improved them. A lot of players only come to the PL because of money anyway so it makes sense they would go Saudi if they can get even more.
Would improve most teams, crazy to think he’ll be cheaper than Solanke if the deal goes through. Would’ve loved Osimhen at Spurs, proper top level finisher.
Cheaper as long as you don't factor in the £500,000.00 per week he is rumoured to want to be paid! Apparently he has a habit of upsetting the dressing room too...
Whilst £500k is a silly demand, the £300k-£400k marker is generally the price of a quality striker nowadays. Pretty sure that’s what Haaland, Kane, Lewandowski etc are roughly earning and Osimhen’s probably one of the next best strikers after those guys.
Still means we can't compete...there is no income tax in Saudi so we would have to pay him close to £800k to get the same net amount as £400k in Saudi.
The £500k that TCM mentioned was what he was supposedly demanding to join Chelsea. That was likely never going to happen but £300k-£400k would - as crazy as it sounds - be about market value for a top level striker. But I guess if he's purely only in it for the money then you can't compete with Saudi at present. Would've been nice to have tried, mind. I think there's more sense in spending a higher wage on Osimhen than what we've done in the last couple years by shelling out £120m + wages on Richarlison and Solanke.
I'm not as convinced he's as good as you think he is. And I'm not sure other clubs are either otherwise more clubs would have been bending over backwards to sign him, yet that hasn't been the case. He's had one amazing season where Napoli won the league in 22-23, but his goalscoring record generally, whilst still pretty good, doesn't warrant Haaland or Kane level of money. He's also been incredibly injury prone and inconsistent at times. He's a very good striker. I'm not convinced he's elite level, though. And his wage demands have clearly deterred any potential suitors.
I don't think he's elite, nor worth £500k a week and I doubt most clubs do either but he's probably the level just below the elites of the world and at 25 is at a perfect age for any buying club. Averaged over a goal every other game at Napoli as well as being proven in other leagues too, there aren't many of a higher calibre than that outside of those at City/ Bayern/ Madrid etc.
I agree with you, but it speaks volume about how scarce the striker/forward market is right now. It seems like a lot of clubs prefer improving their current team dynamics or betting on younger talent with higher potential. Rather than spending a large sum on a marquee name with a huge transfer fee and lucrative wages. That might sound untrue, because I know you guys spent a £60m-ish transfer fee on Solanke. But when you factor in his contract length at Bournemouth, the season he's just had, English tax and his age, that's the going rate for a Premier League striker from a fellow English club. I'm also pretty sure the wages he commands aren't wild in comparison to someone like Osimhen. Even us, we clearly need another forward and it doesn't look like we're going to get one because the market is so dry for top forwards. We'd rather continue with the Havertz experiment up front than spend huge money on someone like him or Gyokeres.
I don't think Solanke's wages have been disclosed yet so not too sure what he's on. I'd imagine between £100k-£150k if we're willing to make him our record signing. What irks me though is we've now spent £125m plus wages on two very, very average strikers and we're banking on Solanke's last season at Bournemouth not being a flash in the pan. Spending what we've done on the back of one good season is very risky, it's what burned us with the likes of Sanchez and Lo Celso. We really do need him to come good though, if we make it two flops up top for the money we've spent it's hard to imagine the club being willing to spend big again on another striker for a while. I think there would've been more logic paying a higher wage to someone like Osimhen or that ilk than going down the route we've gone. I hope I'm eating humble pie by the end of the season though.
Genuine question then - why do you think so many top clubs haven't really been proactive in making a move on him? We both agree that the pool of strikers currently isn't great, so you'd surely expect clubs to be lining up and making plenty of offers for a striker like him, who should be hot property. Why do you think it hasn't happened?
Wages. If he's after £500k then very few can afford it nor would they want to. That's the sort of wage you pay a Messi or Ronaldo. I think if he lowered it to around £300k he'd possibly be a Chelsea player by now.
Apparently Chelsea's new owners have been trying to get the players they've signed to be on no more than £250k a week max. I'm not sure if they'd be willing to go above that because, from what I've been told anyway, they're trying to get their wage structure back under control. Players like Lukaku, Sterling etc were from the previous regime and probably why they're now looking to shift them on. But when I look at their squad contracts, the 3rd highest earner after Lukaku and Sterling is club captain Reece James (£250k a week), who came through the ranks. Everyone else is below £200k p/w. This is kinda what I mean though. A lot of top clubs clearly don't feel Osimhen is worth anywhere close to what he's demanding. The fact that PSG weren't willing to do this either even after losing Mbappe says a lot to me as well.
I think Chelsea are largely bypassing huge per week contracts by seemingly paying deals over 7+ years, not sure if that was their plan for Osimhen or not. It still gives a player a lot of stability even if they don’t earn as much per week as what they would’ve usually done during Roman’s era. I think PSG had already planned for Mbappe’s departure with the Ramos and Kolo Muani signings last summer though so I wouldn’t read too much into that.
Ramos didn't really set the world alight last season, likewise with Kolo Muani. Osimhen was in concrete talks with PSG earlier in the window, so he was clearly an option, but they couldn't come to an agreement. Either way, the point stands - the only two clubs who formalised interest were Chelsea and PSG, and even then, both of them have seemingly opted to look elsewhere now. He isn't as good as he or his agents thinks he is to be demanding anything above £300k p/w (maximum). Now he's going to the Saudi league at the age of 25 because he didn't get as much interest across Europe that he anticipated and refuses to lower his wage demands.
From what I've heard, Ivan Toney is in a similar predicament. 28 years old, just back from a major gambling ban. 2 decent seasons at PL level. Yet the guy seems to think he deserves to be paid more than Harry Kane earned at his peak.
Well, having seen Fabrizio Romano's latest tweet from Osimhen's agent, it looks like Osimhen may not be going to Saudi after all. However, the fact remains that if he wants a move to a top European outfit, he and his agent will need to be more reasonable in what they're asking for from a financial perspective.
Micheal Bridge from Sky sports was a guest on the excellent LWOS show and he seems to think apart from finding clubs for Reguilon, Manor Solomon , Lo Celso and possibly a loan for young Alfie Devine , Spurs will probably sign just one more player before the window shuts on Friday. If it’s just the one which player / position would you like to come in ? For me it’s imperative we sign a LB to cover Udogie.
