Ahead of Napoli’s Champions League Round of 16 tie against Barcelona, former England manager and now TV pundit, Glenn Hoddle, spoke of Victor Osimhen in glowing terms.
Although the hit-man wasn’t on target against the Catalans, Hoddle and fellow pundit, Owen Hargreaves, talked up the possibility of Osimhen joining a Premier League club this summer.
He has long been linked with one of Hoddle’s old clubs, Chelsea, of course.
Victor Osimhen could move to the Premier League this summer
“He’s a Premier League player looking at him, the style of him as well,” he said on live on the TNT Sports broadcast (h/t TNT Sports website).
“But he’s got his hunger back. That’s the main thing. I think now he’s back to his best. He’s got the hunger, the movement, he wants to score goals. That’s the big difference, the mindset.”
It’s believed that the Nigerian has a whopping release clause in the region of €130m, which is an incredible amount for any team to be investing in a player.
However, 13 goals and three assists in an injury-hit 2023/24 (WhoScored) to go with the 31 goals that he managed in Napoli’s Scudetto winning campaign shows that he’s virtually a guarantee of goals.
At 25 years of age, he’s coming into the supposed prime years for a player, and that’s likely to be of benefit for the Blues or any other side that looks likely to be in with a shout of signing him.
He was kept quiet by Barcelona’s 17-year-old, Pau Cubarsi, as the Catalans went through to the Champions League quarter-finals, but that one performance shouldn’t be used as a guide to any interested parties.