The intriguing Man Utd swap transfer deal that could finally reignite season - or see it implode

It’s fair to say that Ruben Amorim’s tenure as head coach of Manchester United hasn’t got off to the best possible start, but equally fair to say that few blame the new manager for the club’s continued failings – there are a number of problems with the squad which need addressing, and increasing speculation that a new striker could be a priority.

Ahead of Monday’s Premier League match against Newcastle United, Amorim’s side have lost three consecutive games and failed to score against either Bournemouth or Wolverhampton Wanderers. Marcus Rashford seems set to leave the club, and Amorim doesn’t seem to have found a central striker he trusts to score the goals the club needs. When the Portuguese coach first took over, it was expected that the focus would be on signing wing-backs and midfielders, but the need for a striker appears increasingly acute.

A recent rumour claims that a particularly blockbusting deal could be in the offing, for instance – TBR Football allege that Manchester United are making enquiries about Napoli’s Victor Osimhen, who is currently on loan at Galatasaray after failing to secure a much-touted move away from Serie A at the end of the summer.

The finances involved in the deal, however, mean that it could easily be the case that United send a player the other way in order to make it all work, with Rashford mentioned as a potential bargaining chip along with fellow forwards Rasmus Højlund and Joshua Zirkzee.

Swap deals of this ilk rarely happen, largely because they’re deeply complex and involve striking a deal which pleases a number of different parties, so it would be a stretch to say that such a move would be the most likely way in which United could solve their striker issue, but the real question is whether Osimhen is really the right kind of player for the job – and if not, who is?

The Nigeria international’s goalscoring record is certainly hard to argue against. He rose to prominence after scoring 26 goals in Napoli’s successful tilt at the Serie A title in the 2022/23 season and has consistently scored 10-15 league goals every year before and after – and since his unexpected move to Turkey, he’s scored nine goals in 11 games, maintaining his impressive record in front of goal.

He's not just a fine finisher, either – his speed and late movement off the ball make him a nightmare for centre-halves to handle and he’s outstanding at finding half a yard of space where none seemed to be. If what you want is a classical number nine and a poacher, then Osimhen is among the best in the world. That doesn’t necessarily fit Amorim’s bill, however.

Since taking over at Old Trafford, it’s become clear that Amorim has no interest in adapting his tactical methods to the squad at his disposal – he is sticking with the 3-4-3 that worked wonders for him at Sporting and will bend his squad to fit that system rather than being the one to make changes. Based on that, it’s logical for United to find a player who can play the number nine role in much the same way that Viktor Gyökeres did in Portugal.

That’s where the logic behind a move for Osimhen begins to look a little questionable. Because while Osimhen’s qualities aren’t in question, his playing style is very different to the Swede’s, especially in terms of his positioning and how he slots into the fluid front three that Amorim wants to set up.

Where Gyökeres attacked the channels under Amorim and looked for chances to find space out wide or around the edges of the penalty area, Osimhen almost invariably stays central and seldom receives the ball outside of the narrow striker’s corridor directly in front of the goal. If Amorim wants a striker who uses his speed and movement to pull defenders out of position in the build up as Gyökeres did at Sporting, Osimhen would be a strange choice.

Furthermore, Gyökeres wasn’t just a goalscorer but also a creator who used those wider space to generate chances for others – the 26-year-old has registered 21 assists over the last two and a half league seasons of his career, while Osimhen has notched up a more modest 10. That’s still not a bad contribution from the Nigerian, and he has the technical quality to play others in, but where he generates an average of 3.08 shooting chances for his team-mates per match, Gyökeres creates 4.64 such opportunities.

In other words, if Amorim wants a straight-up striker, them Osimhen is about as good as it gets – but there is plenty of evidence to suggest that Amorim doesn’t want that. He seems set on recreating his Sporting success using the same methodology in Salford, and playing Osimhen up front feels like forcing a square peg into a round hole, much as Erik ten Hag did by asking Zirkzee to act as a central striker.

If United can’t get their hands on Gyökeres – and he would certainly cost a colossal amount of money – then what they need is to find a striker who has the same movement, the same creative instincts and the same capacity to create space for the two support strikers behind him in Amorim’s system. Osimhen is a brilliant player, but that may not be the sort of player he is capable of being.