Alan Shearer has stated that Victor Osimhen would have been a brilliant summer signing for Newcastle United.
Newcastle United signed five new players this summer, with Sandro Tonali, Harvey Barnes, Tino Livramento, Lewis Hall, and Yankuba Minteh all arriving at St James’ Park.
Due to the new ownership at the club, Newcastle United now have greater spending power than ever before. Additional revenue from qualifying for the Champions League last season also helped in this regard.
Tonali was the most expensive of Eddie Howe’s summer acquisitions. The midfielder cost Newcastle £55 million to sign from AC Milan.
Despite these expenses, Howe is keen for the Magpies to use their transfer funds responsibly and to remain within Financial Fair Play guidelines.
However, Newcastle legend Alan Shearer still feels that the Tyneside outfit need to strengthen further in order to achieve their ultimate aims of challenging for the biggest prizes in the game.
Shearer wishes for Osimhen at Newcastle
Speaking on The Rest is Football podcast, the former striker assessed Newcastle’s recent transfer window activity, saying, “they’ve left themselves short with a centre-half, I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. I think they’ve signed some very good, exciting young talent…they have got a plan, but there’s just a tiny part of me that [thinks] they’ve improved the squad, there’s no doubt about that, but have they massively improved the eleven?”
Ex-Manchester City defender and co-host of The Rest is Football, Micah Richards, then asked Shearer who he would like to see Howe sign to raise the level at Newcastle, before suggesting “someone like Osimhen, maybe?”
In response to Osimhen, Shearer said, “Yeah. I know they’ve got Wilson and Isak, but I don’t think you can have too many up top…I think he would’ve been a very good signing…but they’ve done it differently than we thought, haven’t they, Newcastle? They’ve done it in a more measured way rather than going out and buying that big name.”
Even if it did fit with Newcastle’s “plan”, signing Victor Osimhen would be no easy feat. The 24-year-old is an elite-level striker, and Napoli would not allow him to leave the club cheaply.
The president of the Italian outfit, Aurelio De Laurentiis, has previously claimed that Napoli would demand “€200 million” for the Nigerian goalscorer, as quoted by Sport Mediaset. At the time of writing, that fee would equate to around £172 million.
As spectacular a signing as Osimhen would be for Newcastle, he would likely prove to be beyond even their financial reach at this stage.
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