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Tottenham Hotspur have joined the race to sign Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen, after a £51m Arsenal bid was rejected by Napoli.
Spurs have been in the market for a new striker as a backup for Harry Kane who broke into the first-team in 2013/14 and has been in fine form.
Finding a top-class backup for Kane has proved very tricky indeed. The likes of Vincent Janssen, Fernando Llorente and Carlos Vinicius have all come and gone and the weight remains firmly on Kane’s shoulders.
Spurs head coach Antonio Conte is trying to fix that this summer and plenty of names have been linked with a move to the London side. Everton forward Richarlison has been heavily linked in recent days, with Tottenham’s Harry Winks a potential makeweight in a deal with Everton. Lautaro Martinez is also being linked with a £77million move to team up with Conte once more.
Reports from England say Spurs radar is 23-year-old Nigerian-born Napoli forward Victor Osimhen, who scored 18 goals and provided 6 assists in 31 matches for his Italian club Napoli this season. Tottenham wanted to sign the Nigerian international when he was in Ligue 1 in Lille, but will now cost Spurs about £85m secure his signature.
The Nigeria international has scored 24 goals in 51 Serie A games since a £60m move from Lille in 2020.
Osimhen looks set to take the next step in his career by playing in England.
Speaking to CalcioMercato, the Nigerian international broke his silence on his future when he said: “I know there are many people that would like me in Spain or England, but I don’t think it’s the right time to talk about it now that I’m with the national team. I always go out on the pitch to do my best both with the national team and with my club.
“I don’t know my future, I know anything can happen, but now I just want to go on holiday with my family, clear my head and recharge my batteries. Then we’ll take care of everything else.”
Osimhen scored four goals as Nigeria thrashed Sao Tome e Principe 10-0 in qualifying for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
Osimhen now has 15 goals in 22 international caps, with the Napoli striker becoming only the second Nigerian to score four goals in an international, with Rashidi Yekini the first to do so in a 7-1 Nations Cup qualifier against Burkina Faso in 1991.