Arsenal in talks for Osimhen as Galatasaray turns down Al Hilal offer

Arsenal has started talks with Galatasaray about bringing Victor Osimhen to their team. Reports from British and European media, including PUNCH Sports Extra, say Osimhen's name came up during discussions about other players like Gabriel Martinelli and Ethan Nwaneri.

Matt Law, a football news writer for The Telegraph, said Galatasaray made a £38.4m offer for Martinelli. They are also interested in Nwaneri, who played on loan at Marseille last season. These talks took place with Arsenal's sporting director, Andrea Berta.

It is not clear if Berta mentioned Osimhen during these talks or if Galatasaray offered the striker as part of the bigger conversation.

Osimhen almost moved to the Premier League two years ago. Chelsea had serious talks to sign him from Napoli, but he ended up joining Galatasaray on loan. The Turkish champions later bought him for a reported €75m. Since then, he has become one of the top strikers in Europe, scoring 59 goals in 74 matches in Turkey. He helped Galatasaray win two Super Lig titles, netting 22 goals and making six assists in 33 league games last season.

Arsenal has admired Osimhen for a while but reportedly sees him as less preferred compared to Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez. However, their pursuit of Alvarez has become tricky. Atletico is asking for more than £100m and is not willing to negotiate, even with Barcelona, who had an £86m offer turned down this summer. This situation has led Arsenal to consider other options, with Osimhen now back on their radar.

In another development, Galatasaray has turned down a €130m offer from Saudi Pro League team Al Hilal for Osimhen.

Florian Plettenberg, a German transfer journalist, reported on Thursday that an agent representing Al Hilal made the offer to Galatasaray on Wednesday. However, the Turkish club is not interested in discussing a deal for the striker.

Plettenberg shared on X, "Galatasaray were offered €130m for Victor Osimhen yesterday via an intermediary acting for Al-Hilal. The offer was made verbally. Galatasaray are not willing to negotiate at this stage and have no intention of entering talks."

It's important to mention that reports linking Arsenal to Osimhen come alongside some mixed information about the striker's future at Galatasaray. There was an earlier report saying the Turkish club lowered their asking price to €65m due to interest from Al Hilal, while another claim stated Galatasaray has "no intention" of selling Osimhen after rejecting the €130m bid.