Manchester Utd lament Osimhen’s wages amidst interest

Manchester United chiefs are unlikely to agree a deal with Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen over his wages which would be around £20m per season, as the club look to bring down their wage bill which stood at £365m last season.

Osimhen has been linked with a move to Old Trafford ahead of the summer transfer window as he is expected to depart Napoli for good after the 2024/25 season.

Currently on loan at Galatasaray after falling out with the Italian club’s hierarchy, the Nigerian international attracted persistent interest last summer, with Chelsea coming closest to sealing a deal before it fell through.

The 26-year-old has been coy on his next destination, but he has strongly been linked with United just as Arsenal were said to be ready to pay his €75m release clause.

As the rumours about a move to United continue to gather momentum, former Manchester City financial adviser Stefan Borson has said United are unlikely to agree a deal for the 26-year-old due to his “enormous” wages.

“I think there are two aspects to the Osimhen deal,” Borson told Football Insider.

“One is whether they could do it, so do they have the cash to do it? I suspect that they don’t have the cash to do it and that they would need more money to be put in by the shareholders or to borrow more under their various facilities.

“Now, whether that’s feasible or not, who knows? But put that to one side, I think there are enough indicators that a player like Osimhen is absolutely not the type of target that Manchester United are pursuing in this current phase.

“That’s for two reasons. One, because his fee would be higher than they’d want to pay, even at £62m. His age is probably borderline as to whether he’s the right age that they’d want to look at, but most of all, his wages would be enormous.

“He’s another one of these players that potentially falls into the £20m a year bracket. I don’t see that being where United are going to go. Clearly, a striker is going to have a different earning profile to others.

“But I just don’t see that they’re going to invest again at these sorts of very big levels while they’re in the middle of effectively a retrenchment and restructuring of the organisation.

“I think United will be looking for more players of the type that they’ve been buying over the last couple of windows, so younger, lower salaries and building back up to the salary bracket that they have now.

“I think you’ll see some quite dramatic falls in annualised wages at United.”

Osimhen has registered 22 goals and five assists in 28 appearances for Galatasaray this season.