If Darwin Nunez and Mudryk cost €100m, Osimhen is €300m

Carlo Garganese

• 5 Feb 2023 15:00 GMT
• 4 min read

Another Napoli game, another Victor Osimhen masterclass.

The Serie A top scorer struck twice on Sunday afternoon as Napoli thrashed Spezia 3-0.

It was the fifth game in a row that the striker had found the net. It took Osimhen’s tally for the season to 16 Serie A goals from 16 starts. He is averaging a goal every 102 minutes this term.

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And not one of these 16 goals has been from the penalty spot.

Only Erling Haaland has more non-penalty goals and a better goal average than Osimhen in Europe’s big five leagues in 2022-23.

Osimhen’s goals are helping take a magical Napoli side to a first Scudetto in 33 years.

Ahead of Sunday evening’s Milan Derby, Napoli are an incredible 16 points clear at the top of Serie A.

Inter can reduce that lead to 13 points if they beat Milan at San Siro but it would take an almighty choke for Napoli to throw away the title from here.

This Napoli team coached by Luciano Spalletti is certainly special but it is the world class attacking pairing of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (eight goals, nine assists in Serie A) and Osimhen that gives the Partenopei an X-factor that will scare every remaining team in the Champions League.

Osimhen is a monster of a number nine.

Last week he scored one of the goals of the season against Roma, with a stunning chest, knee and volley into the roof of the net all in one movement bringing the house down in Naples.

Is Osimhen as good as Drogba?

After that game, Roma coach Jose Mourinho said that Osimhen was on the same level his former legendary Chelsea striker Didier Drogba.

It is easy to see why. Osimhen is the complete number nine. Bull-like strength, cheetah-like speed with the leap of a salmon.

He can play with his back to goal - holding up the ball and bringing others into play - just as well as he can playing on the last man making smart runs in behind.

He is both-footed, one of the best in the world aerially, while he works tirelessly for the team. The Nigerian never stops running and is a ferocious presser.

This season he has found his consistency in front of goal, as well.

It is no surprise that the Premier League’s biggest clubs are lining up from him ahead of the summer transfer window.

Manchester United and Chelsea - as well as PSG - are expected to make offers.

It will certainly cost them a fortune if they want to prise Osimhen away. Not only is Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis notorious for driving a hard bargain, but some of the recent inflated prices paid for unproven players means that Osimhen will command an astronomical fee.

Darwin Nunez was signed by Liverpool for a fee that could reach €100 million last summer. Nunez has thus far been something of a disaster, with a glut of gaffes and open-goal misses turning him into something of a parody.

Chelsea new boy Mykhailo Mudryk also commanded a fee of €100m, despite scoring just 12 club goals in his career and having played only 65 times. He had been capped eight times by Ukraine and has yet to score for his country.

Another hugely inflated deal was Man Utd’s €100m signing of Antony from Ajax. The Brazilian has also struggled badly so far.

If Nunez, Mudryk and Antony are worth €100m, then what should Victor Osimhen cost? €200m? €300m?