Manchester United are still looking for another striker who can challenge Anthony Martial for a starting spot this season. They targeted Victor Osimhen earlier in the summer but the Nigerian apparently turned down a move due to Odion Ighalo.
Ighalo joined United from China’s Shanghai Shenhua on a loan after the Red Devils missed out on Erling Braut Haaland.
The 31-year-old did enough to convince Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to extend his stay and will remain at Old Trafford to support Martial until January.
However, that decision appears to have prevented one of Europe’s brightest young forwards from joining the Red Devils.
United approached Osimhen earlier this summer, but the 21-year-old opted to join Napoli in a £63 million deal.
Osimhen’s brother Andrew claims the former Wolfsburg striker turned down Solskjaer’s offer out of respect for fellow Nigerian Ighalo.
“It is very true that Manchester United wanted Victor but he told me something like he had too much respect for Odion Ighalo to be competing for shirts with his senior colleague,” Osimhen’s older brother told Complete Sports.
“My brother holds Ighalo in high esteem and he just didn’t see himself going to Old Trafford to battle for a striking role with the highest goal-scorer at the 2019 AFCON in Egypt.”
Osimhen scored an eight-minute hat-trick on his debut for Napoli in a pre-season friendly against L’Aquila last month.
Head coach Gennaro Gattuso cautioned that the youngster’s expectations should not be set too high.
“It’s too easy to get excited now, we’ve got to give him time and let him work, not put pressure on,” said Gattuso.
“He is an important player and we paid a lot for him, but there were no doubts he would give us something different that we haven’t had in my time here. There’s a long way to go.”
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