Victor Osimhen has proven why Manchester United is not interested in signing him this summer, with a rather unreasonable contract demand on top of his wages.
Manchester United are in desperate need of attacking reinforcements this summer, following a disappointing 2024/25 season that saw the club finish 15th in the Premier League table due to a lack of firepower up front.
United’s top scorer was Bruno Fernandes, with 19 to his name this campaign. Alejandro Garnacho and Amad followed with 11 each while Rasmus Højlund netted ten – no other player reached double figures for the club across all competitions.
This summer, United have already secured an agreement to sign Matheus Cunha from Wolverhampton Wanderers, while there is increasing confidence at Old Trafford that they will finalise a deal to sign Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo, too.
However, the club are still searching to secure a new central striker this summer, with Sporting CP’s Viktor Gyökeres a player they admire. He has scored 97 goals in 102 appearances for the Portuguese club, with 66 of these coming under Amorim in just 68 games.
United do not want Osimhen after his insane contract demand
While Gyökeres seems to be the club’s top choice, another class striker who is available on the market is Victor Osimhen, with the Napoli forward available this summer after falling out with the Serie A side’s board and rejecting a move to Saudi Arabia last week.
Although the Nigerian international would be an almost perfect fit for United this summer, his wage demands have been a significant snag in negotiations with many clubs, as transfer journalist Ben Jacobs has noted.
“Gyökeres is more feasible than Osimhen, but it’s a big surprise in the industry, because many suitors, including Premier League clubs, felt that Osimhen was going to go to Saudi Arabia,” Jacobs started on The United Stand YouTube channel.
“What Osimhen has been able to do is leverage that Saudi money to get a very competitive offer out of Galatasaray, and they’re really pushing to get this deal done, and that would be a big surprise because all indications were during the loan spell that he wouldn’t end up joining them permanently.
“The Premier League clubs have the same perspective that Osimhen hasn’t significantly dropped his wage demands.”
However, the more shocking part of Osimhen’s contract demands to United and other Premier League clubs is not that he has high wage demands, but that he wants his wage to be guaranteed instead of incentive-based.
United have a clause in every player’s contract that states their wage drop by 25% if the club fails to qualify for the Champions League, and Osimhen made the rather insane request that he be exempt from this.
“Manchester United and Chelsea, who tried last summer, are still understanding – because the race has become more open – whether or not anything’s changed, and if it hasn’t, then Manchester United and Chelsea and basically most Premier League clubs are not expected to come back in for Osimhen,” Jacobs continued.
“[This is] due to the fact that he not only wants a high wage, but he doesn’t want to bend into a club’s incentive-driven structure and take on the risk of losing money in seasons where maybe the team doesn’t succeed.
“Victor Osimhen is saying I want guaranteed money, so regardless of what that number is, it remains the same even without Champions League football, and it continues to rise based on personal goals.”
Osimhen is proving why United do not want to sign him
According to Italian media reports, Osimhen’s “dream” move is to sign for United this summer. Still, the mentality that he should be exempt from facing the same punishment as his potential teammates should they collectively fail to achieve the club’s goals shows why United do not want him.
The 25% cut serves not only as an incentive to ensure players consistently perform to their highest standards, but also to help the club save costs when they miss out on qualifying for the competition.
Amorim has been firm in his stance that he does not want to sign any palyesr who are simply joining his squad based off if they want to play Champions League football, but instead players who are willing to invest in rebuilding United back to the top of English and European football.
Osimhen’s demand completely undermines that. If there were to be one player who is not affected by missing out on Champions League football while the rest are, this would cause tension and a rift in the dressing room at a time when Amorim wants to build harmony.
It has been stated that Gyökeres is still open to joining United, despite the club failing to qualify for the Champions League next season, which better meets the demands Amorim is requiring for his players.
This will no doubt be a significant reason why United would rather sign the Swede over Osimhen this summer.
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