Arsenal will have an easier time of persuading Victor Osimhen to sign after Real Madrid won the race for Kylian Mbappe, according to reports.
Widespread reports are indicating that Mbappe will sign for Real Madrid after he told Paris Saint-Germain that he won’t be staying beyond the summer.
It is understood that Real Madrid had been lining up moves for other potential options, such as Osimhen, if their efforts to sign Mbappe failed.
However, Spanish publication Marca has revealed that Mbappe has ‘signed his contract’ at the Spanish giants and his deal will ‘bind him to Real Madrid for five years’.
There was interest from Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City but the Premier League clubs struggled to compete with the deal on offer for Mbappe at the Bernabeu.
But Mbappe’s move to Real Madrid could still be beneficial for Arsenal with Spanish newspaper Nacional insisting that the Frenchman’s imminent move ‘opens the door’ to Osimhen.
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Osimhen is now ‘closer’ to Arsenal than any other team and the Gunners ‘do not want to miss the opportunity’ to buy the Napoli striker in the summer.
Mikel Arteta and sporting director Edu now ‘lead the fight’ for Osimhen – who has contributed seven goals and two assists in 13 Serie A matches this term – as they look for ‘the definitive star to catapult it to the elite’.
In the summer market, Arsenal are ‘going to focus on achieving the desired number nine and the number one on the list is Osimhen’ but the Nigeria international has many suitors, including PSG, Chelsea, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Bayern Munich and Juventus.
In fact, reliable Italian journalist Rudy Galetti insists that Chelsea are ‘willing to trigger’ Osimhen’s release clause this summer with the amount set at €130m (£111m).
Galetti wrote on X: “#Chelsea are planning to speed things up for Victor #Osimhen – main target to strenghten their attack – to anticipate the competition from #PSG. #CFC are willing to trigger the release clause (€130m) and will approach #Napoli soon to negotiate the payment structure.”
Former Arsenal and Chelsea defender William Gallas expects Osimhen to arrive in the Premier League in the summer and he’s likened the striker to Blues legend Didier Drogba.
Gallas said: “I think they will sign Victor Osimhen in the summer. I don’t know Victor that well as a person but he’s similar to Drogba. Didier was so strong but with Osimhen, he is also very quick.”
