Newcastle United are interested in an ambitious swoop for Napoli phenomenon Victor Osimhen, with the Serie A champion's future uncertain after Luciano Spalletti's recent departure from Naples.
What's the latest on Victor Osimhen to Newcastle?
According to Gazzetta dello Sport (via the Mirror), who claim that Eddie Howe's Magpies are set to battle it out with Premier League rivals Manchester United this summer for the Nigerian frontman, having received a £100m windfall after qualifying for next year's Champions League.
The report states that Newcastle have 'made contact' with the player's agent and are now looking at the feasibility of a move for an ace integral in Napoli's Scudetto this term.
A stumbling block comes in the form of Osimhen's valuation, with I Partenopei demanding roughly £130m for the 24-year-old after such a sensational season.
Should Newcastle sign Victor Osimhen?
Napoli signed Osimhen for around £81m from French outfit Lille in 2020 and he swiftly asserted himself as an impressive striker in Italian football, scoring 28 goals across his first two campaigns.
This season, he has truly emerged as one of Europe's foremost forwards, posting 30 goals and five assists from 38 matches across all competitions as Napoli emphatically secured the Serie A title for the first time since 1990.
Newcastle already boast a formidable strikeforce in Callum Wilson and £63m club-record signing Alexander Isak, who have plundered 18 and ten goals respectively this term. The Swede was even hindered by injury issues for much of his maiden season in English football.
However, a signing of Osimhen's ilk would lift the offensive calibre to a whole new level, the forward ranking among the top 1% of positional peers across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for rate of non-penalty goals and the top 3% for touches in the attacking box per 90, as per FBref, and subsequently being hailed as a "goal-machine" by journalist Mimo Fawaz.
The £91k-per-week phenom would indeed be hard to prise away from the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium but Spalletti's departure to take a year-long sabbatical surely opens the door for the likes of Newcastle and the Red Devils.
Newcastle are on the up and will not want to rest on their laurels after finishing in the top four, instead looking to utilise their newfound prominence to continue an ascent to the very forefront of domestic and continental football, and to do so, closing the gap on imperious Premier League champions Manchester City is the goal.
Pep Guardiola's defending champions have taken precedence in England after the sagacious Spaniard arrived in 2016, and this term could yet complete a historic treble, having clinched the league title and await their fate in both the FA Cup and Champions League finals.
A definitive factor behind the blistering success is down to the signing of prolific prodigy Erling Haaland, who has scored an incredible 52 goals from 51 outings during his first season with the Sky Blues, also supplying nine assists.
Ranking among the top 1% of forwards for rate of non-penalty goals, the top 10% for rate of assists and the top 5% for touches in the attacking box per 90, the Norwegian sensation has taken the world by storm and rivals will be desperately searching for a way to dethrone his side, and Newcastle could unearth the formula by signing Osimhen.
The semblance between the strikers is uncanny, and Osimhen would undoubtedly become the Tyneside club's "heart and soul" - as praised by reporter Mina Rzouki for his feats in Naples - not only bridging the gap but perhaps harnessing a level of fluidity to leapfrog the divisional giants and claiming centre-stage as the Premier League's new leading force.