Man UTD agrees to personal terms and signs a £30 million “monster”

Manchester United’s disastrous season in the Premier League continued to hit new lows after a 1-0 loss to Wolverhampton Wanderers at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Vittle Pereira’s side, who has been fighting relegation all season, is now levelled with points with the Red Devils at 58 points.

Pablo Saravia’s stunning free kick was the difference between Manchester. This is because the quality moment has been decided on stadium games, which are common for home teams in the Premier League era.

If United are currently in 14th place, United are in 14th place in the league table, and their choice of striker is a terrible indictment of hiring work that has been carried out behind the scenes in recent years.

Signed by Atalanta on a £72 million contract in 2023, Rasmus Hoilund started against the wolves and failed to score. That means he scored three goals in 28 Premier League matches.

Joshua Zilky is not available and is set to miss the rest of the season due to a hamstring injury, but he didn’t provide the quality United needed in the final third.

Why was Man Wood able to move on from Joshua Zilky?

The Red Devils reportedly paid a fee of £36.5 million to sign Dutch International from Serie A-side Bologna last summer, competing with Hozilund for a spot in the starting lineup.

Unfortunately, neither of them performs well enough to quit Manchester United’s first choice number 9 position, instead replacing them with struggles at the top end of the Premier League pitch.

Zirkzee has started 14 of his 32 appearances in the division. This shows he failed to perform well enough to become a consistent starter, scoring three goals from 4.82 xg in the meantime.

As you can see from the table above, the Dutch centre forwards rank very low among Premier League strikers, with many key goal scorer metrics.

These statistics show that Zirkzee does not regularly fall into high-quality scoring positions and cannot make the most of his opportunities when they come on his path.

Former Bayern Munich Gem turns 24 next month, almost two years older than Hoszlund, and was able to move this summer to create space for new strikers. He costs over £30 million more than Danish prospects, so it’s more appealing to sell to limit losses on initial spending.

Man Utd reaches a £30 million striker contract

According to African Foot, as relayed by TeamTalk, Manchester United have already reached an agreement with Victor Osimhen and his representative ahead of the possibility of transfer.

The report alleges that the Red Devils have signed a deal with Nigeria International ahead of the upcoming summer transfer window as they seek to bolster their options at the top edge of the pitch.

Osimhen has revealed he wants to move into the Premier League and take the next step in his career, and he is now giving the move to Old Trafford a green light.

The outlet adds that a permanent exit from Naples has been on the striker’s card this summer, despite his contract not ending until 2026, with a fee of up to £30 million to secure his service.

While they may have reached an agreement with Osimhen and his representative, Manchester United will need to agree to a contract with the Italian club to ensure they are part of Ruben Amorim’s team for the 2025/26 campaign.

The agreement with the players suggests they are closed to Galatasaray lenders, which may not be good news for Zirkzee and his future in Manchester.

Why Manchester United should sign Victor Osimhen

The Red Devils must follow their path to signing Osimen from Naples this summer. Because he can come to solve the problems he’s had in the striker position this season.

The 26-year-old Marksman is a prolific and reliable scorer who has proven his quality at the top end of the pitch in Italy, France and Turkey in recent seasons, with United Front 2 having struggled throughout his 2024/25 campaign in the Premier League.

As you can see in the table above, Osimhen has scored over 17 goals in five of the last six seasons for Lille, Napoli and Galatasaray, scoring an astounding 29 goals in 33 matches in his current campaign.

Once described as a “monster” by analyst Ben Matinson, the Napoli Forward was particularly impressive in the 2022/23 Serie-a-season, scoring 26 goals to guide the title.

Meanwhile, Zirkzee has only scored seven goals in 48 matches in all competitions in his debut year in England.

This suggests that Osimhen, currently ranked 1% before the male big five leagues, will come as a major upgrade for both Zirkzee and Hojlund, as a non-penalty XG European competition per 90-person European competition (0.98).

In terms of what that means for the current United striker, Jilkzee is older and cheaper than Hozilund, and could potentially send him packing up to make a room for the Nigerian striker before next season.

Therefore, news that United has reached an agreement with Osimen should come as bad news for Dutch attackers, whose days at Old Trafford may already be numbered.

Now it is up to the board to ensure that an agreement with Naples can be reached, whether it is a £30 million fee or not, to bolster Amorim’s attack options.