Did Premier League clubs miss an opportunity by not signing Victor Osimhen?

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“We spent a lot of money,” Galatasaray manager Okan Buruk told The Athletic recently, speaking about his club’s record signing Victor Osimhen. “It was like a miracle for a Turkish team to sign someone for €75million.”

Is ‘miracle’ a bit strong? Maybe. But for a club that, before this summer, had never paid more than €20million for a single player, you know they had to be pretty convinced that they were spending their money wisely.

And watching him against Liverpool on Tuesday night gave you more evidence that they made a shrewd investment.

Osimhen scored the winner — a penalty admittedly — but that was arguably some way down the list of the most impressive aspects of his performance. For the rest of the 72 minutes he was on the pitch, Osimhen was a menace, charging at the Liverpool defence, making smart runs and sharp interceptions, carving out chances for himself and his teammates. A lob after spotting Alisson off his line was a few inches away from being one of the goals of the season.

He missed some excellent chances and occasionally lacked a little sharpness, but overall, he looked like an absolute nightmare to play against, and all while not 100 per cent fit: Buruk left it until the last minute to decide whether he would play.

Galatasaray had the benefit of trying before they bought, Osimhen having spent a wildly successful season on loan with them in 2024-25. He scored 37 goals in 41 games for the Turkish champions last term: his winner against Liverpool on Tuesday was his third in five games this season, and it was also his sixth in six career games against English clubs.

Osimhen scores his penalty against Liverpool (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

Now, this one was a penalty, and four of the others came against Tottenham and Leicester in the Europa League. But it does beg the question: if he keeps scoring against English teams, why didn’t an English team get him to score for them?

Osimhen was very available in the summer. After that initial loan ended, he was never going back to his parent club, Napoli. Whoever came up with the necessary cash had a good run at signing him.

And yet, no Premier League club seemed to seriously look at him, despite most of the division’s elite being in the market for a striker.

Before the game, Arne Slot was asked about the prospect of Liverpool moving for him, which he dismissed on the basis that they wanted Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak, as reported by the Liverpool Echo. Fair enough. Arsenal needed a centre-forward but instead went for Viktor Gyokeres: again, given his cartoon scoring numbers in Portugal, maybe that’s fair enough too, but the Swede only really has those two seasons at Sporting as evidence that he can score at the top level. Osimhen was bagging in Italy when Gyokeres couldn’t get a game at Brighton.

Then there’s Chelsea. They signed Liam Delap and Joao Pedro instead, but neither has Osimhen’s CV. Manchester United opted for Benjamin Sesko, a fine young prospect, but again doesn’t have the Nigerian’s body of work. Newcastle pretended they weren’t in the market for a striker to replace Isak, but they surely would have been better off accepting that their star man would leave and taking more time to get a more proven replacement than Nick Woltemade. Does anyone have any suggestions about who they could have gone for?

All of that is perhaps a bit reductive. There were plenty of reasons why the queue for Osimhen’s signature was relatively short.

The cost was one thing. Even for Premier League clubs, €75million is a lot of money, and even after some interminable negotiations with Galatasaray, Napoli weren’t budging on the price. His wages, as we’ll find out shortly, are massive.

There’s also the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) to consider: Premier League clubs are not necessarily averse to signing African players, but some baulked at such a significant outlay when they know the player will be missing for a month or more in the meat of the season.

There are injuries, too: Osimhen has already missed five games this season, had to leave the Liverpool match early and has consistently picked up muscle problems throughout his career.

There are other reliability questions, too: Osimhen was sensational in Napoli’s Serie A-winning season in 2022-23, but his form disappeared the season after, albeit with a range of mitigating factors. For many, a season banging them in past Konyaspor and Goztepe is not a convincing retort to those questions.

Other reasons don’t necessarily stand up to as much scrutiny, though. Some Premier League clubs didn’t seriously pursue Osimhen because of doubts about his character: at least one of the clubs that kicked the tyres on a move received some adverse reports.

But those who have worked with him in Turkey, speaking under the condition of anonymity to protect relationships, only have good things to say about him. He quickly became a key part of the dressing room during his loan spell, and continues to be after the move was made permanent.

And even if you ignore those testimonials, you can safely assume that Galatasaray wouldn’t break the bank for dressing room poison.

Recently, Osimhen was watching TV and saw a report about a kid who had a significant operation in Ankara, the Turkish capital. While he was slowly coming round from the anaesthetics, the kid dreamt/hallucinated that Osimhen had appeared at the foot of his bed. Upon hearing that story, Osimhen invited the kid and his family to the Galatasaray training ground and presented him with a signed, match-worn shirt.

Again, a relatively modest act of altruism does not necessarily mean those unfavourable character reports were completely inaccurate, but equally it doesn’t exactly speak to someone who would immediately kill the vibes at your club.

Ultimately, Osimhen moved permanently to Galatasaray for a few reasons. Firstly, he was clearly comfortable from a professional perspective: the Super Lig is not especially strong, but who wouldn’t enjoy scoring that many goals?

Osimhen joined Galatasaray permanently in the summer (Marco Rosi – SS Lazio/Getty Images)

Secondly, a strong bond developed between him and those in the stands at the Rams Park. “He loved our supporters, and they loved him,” Buruk told The Athletic. “There was a really big connection. He was very happy here.”

The third factor was money. Osimhen is being paid around €15million a year, with another €5million in image rights, meaning he’s on somewhere close to €400,000-a-week. And given tax laws in Turkey that mean he will only hand 20 per cent of that to the state, you can see why life in Istanbul would start to look quite attractive.

That said, Galatasaray’s main competitors for his signature over the summer, Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal, reportedly offered him almost double that, so money clearly wasn’t the only reason he went to Turkey.

So perhaps he could have been persuaded to move to the Premier League for less. In a summer when most of the elite clubs needed an elite striker, there was one right there for them. There were many arguments against a move for Victor Osimhen, but there were arguably more for it.

Just ask Liverpool.

(Top photo: Ahmad Mora – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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