Fabrizio Romano reveals Arsenal passed up the opportunity to sign Galatasaray-bound Osimhen

Italian transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has revealed that Arsenal passed up the opportunity to sign Galatasaray-bound forward Victor Osimhen and that Paris Saint-Germain were the only European club that came close to sealing a permanent deal for the Super Eagles star.

Off the back of missing out on the Premier League title for the second consecutive season to Manchester City, the Gunners were said to need a striker and Osimhen was one of the players linked.

It later emerged that the club were not keen on signing the Napoli striker but were focused on signing Benjamin Šeško who turned down their interest before extending his contract with RB Leipzig.

Having failed in their attempt to sign Šeško, they were also credited with an interest in Viktor Gyökeres and Dominic Solanke but no credible report emerged in the club having a concrete interest in the duo.

Speaking on the north London club's link with Osimhen on his YouTube channel, Romano revealed that they refused the opportunity to sign the lanky forward.

"At the beginning of the summer transfer window, let me say it was June, Arsenal were also offered the possibility to sign Victor Osimhen at the time for the value of the release clause was close to something between €120m to €130m," Romano explained.

"Arsenal immediately decided against the possibility then we saw in the rumours in media in Italy, Osimhen and Arsenal again in July, in August, that was never a possibility because Arsenal already decided in June against the possibility of investing on a number 9, so Arsenal were not going to put big money on the player and especially they were not going to put that amount of money on that player.

"In case of an opportunity like Benjamin Sesko, Arsenal were prepared to do it for €50m, €60m but for €120, Arsenal were never prepared to pay that kind of money.

"It was also about Financial Fair Play, and also, the salary of Victor Osimhen for Arsenal was something they didn't want to afford.

"So this is why Arsenal were never in the race this summer for Victor Osimhen but then they were offered the possibility."

The transfer guru also spoke about PSG's interest in the 25-year-old as he had confirmed that the Ligue 1 defending champions had an agreement with the striker and has confirmed that they were the only European club that came close to signing the Nigeria international.

"Paris Saint-Germain have been the only club over the summer transfer window to be really potentially close to signing Victor Osimhen because they had an agreement with Victor Osimhen.

"So the only European club to reach an agreement with Victor Osimhen over the summer was Paris Saint-Germain.

"End of July, agreement with the player, salary, contract, project, all the people at PSG really open to signing Osimhen.

"Then what happens, the situation between Osimhen and PSG was okay, The situation between PSG and Napoli was super tense, why.

 "Because PSG wanted Kvaratskhelia, Napoli were not happy with that approach, the President of Napoli attacked Nasser Al-Khelaifi for that Kvaratskhelia story and so PSG were really tense with Napoli.

"The end of the story was that Paris Saint-Germain decided to leave the negotiation, why? Because they approached Napoli and Napoli started asking for release clause same with Arsenal, PSG position was really clear no chance to pay 120,130.

"Then Napoli started asking for players to be included in the deal. For PSG, if it were players like Škriniar or players like Mukiele, it was okay but Napoli  requested for Kang-In-Lee as part of the deal, untouchable for PSG so the negotiations broke.

"It was really a difficult story to handle for PSG because they were considering the signing but from that moment but especially for the tense situation with Napoli, they decided to leave any negotiations.

"So all the rumours of PSG making a bid in August were not true, never considering that possibility."

Galatasaray who were never in the picture to sign the former Lille striker before now are on the verge of getting his signature on a loan deal.

The Turkish giants have successfully negotiated a deal with Osimhen and Napoli with announcement of the striker's signing now imminent.

Abdulkareem Abdulhamid

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