Micah Richards says Arsenal made a transfer mistake with Victor Osimhen

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Former Manchester City defender Micah Richards believes Arsenal should have pushed to sign Victor Osimhen in the recent summer transfer window.

Football Transfers recently reported that Arsenal hold a serious interest in signing striker Victor Osimhen next summer, and that sporting director Edu has even held early initial talks with Napoli over the possibility of striking a deal.

There is no doubt that Osimhen’s arrival at the Emirates Stadium would represent a major coup for the north London club. However, the Gunners have recently shown that they’re willing to spend big in order to achieve their aims. This is evidenced by the fact they shelled out a club-record £105 million fee to secure the services of Declan Rice this summer.

However, Micah Richards doesn’t believe that Arsenal did enough this summer. Speaking on The Rest is Football podcast, the 35-year-old said, “this player [Osimhen] is one of the best strikers. I was saying Arsenal should have bought him in the summer. It might have cost a little bit too much then. His price might have gone down a little bit if they wanted to do a deal [in January]. But, yeah, he’s a top, top player.”

Osimhen would have been beyond Arsenal’s reach in the summer

It would likely have been impossible financially for Arsenal to pull off a deal for Osimhen in the same summer that Rice and Kai Havertz were brought to the club. Mikel Arteta was clearly comfortable prioritising midfield upgrades over attacking acquisitions. 

The Spanish coach has faith in Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah, but it is obvious that Osimhen would be a significant improvement on the club’s current striker options. It would be a remarkable bit of business if Edu were able to bring the 26-cap Nigeria international to the Emirates Stadium in the upcoming January transfer window. Such an arrival would have a transformative impact on the rest of the Gunners’ campaign. 

It is fair to say that Arsenal don’t have an elite goalscorer to lead the line. Jesus is an excellent player, but is likely not prolific enough to fire the club to a Premier League title. Osimhen could well get the Gunners over that line.