Premier League giants, Manchester United and Newcastle, have entered race for the signature of in-form Victor Osimhen, according to reports in the French media.
French Regional newspaper based in Lille, La Voix du Nord claimed that Manchester United are one of the teams monitoring the performance of the Lille hotshot with a view to a transfer to the Premier League club.
The Red Devils are in the market for a striker ahead of the reopening of the transfer window and have been linked with the likes of Aleksandr Sobolev, Callum Wilson, Moussa Dembele and Mario Mandzukic.
Manchester United were mentioned as one of the possible destinations for Osimhen after he won the Golden Boot at the 2015 FIFA U17 World Cup, but former head of youth player recruitment, Derek Langley later refuted the reports.
Newcastle have also set their sights on acquiring the services of Nigeria international. Osimhen is the darling of several European clubs at the moment as the Chronicles have confirmed that Newcastle United scouts are keeping tabs on the young but exciting Lille star.
Earlier last week, news broke out that Barcelona had jumped ahead of the queue of clubs seeking to snap Osimhen away from Lille as the Catalonia giants begin to prepare for post-Suarez.
Osimhen enjoyed a breakthrough season last term at Sporting Charleroi where he banged in 20 goals in just his first season in Belgium.
The 20-year-old was quickly snapped up by Lille in the summer as a replacement for Portugal’s Leao who left for AC Milan.
But the former Wolfsburg lad has however been compared frequently to the prolific Nicolas Pepe who departed for Arsenal in a £72m deal, having netted eight goals in 11 appearances for the Ligue 1 side this season.
Osimhen only joined Lille from Belgian outfit Charleroi for £10.8million.
Newcastle manager Steve Bruce will have money available to spend in January and he may look to do a deal for the Nigerian if possible.
Named the French Ligue 1 Player of the Month for September, the Super Eagles star has had a blistering start to the campaign in which he has scored seven goals and assisted two others.
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