David Ornstein says that Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen is not on United's radar in terms of bringing in a centre-forward for next season.
This sort of came out the blue as all reports prior to this suggested that the Red Devils were in for the Napoli loanee. Whenever Ornstein speaks though, we all listen.
As we know the 26 year old is on loan at Galatasaray until the end of the season with his Napoli contract expiring in 2026 after he signed a contract extension in December 2023 with the option to extend for a further year. His release clause from the Italian outfit is said to be around the €130m (£111m) mark.
There are also loud noises about the Nigerian potentially heading to Saudi Arabia despite the interest from other clubs in Europe. Chelsea looked to be a likely destination until he signed that extension.
Ornstein also said that Ipswich striker Liam Delap is United's no 1 target for that centre-forward position. He did add that while the 22 year old is the main man, there are other options (not Osimhen) to come in as striker. However, should these not transpire, internal solutions such as Hojlund will be looked to with focus then shifting to other areas to improve.
United will have a battle on their hands to try and secure Delap's signature though as Chelsea and Newcastle are rivaling Sir Jim Ratcliffe for him. Delap has a £30m release clause with his current deal taking him to June 2029.
Jason Wilcox, Technical Director at Man Utd, seems to be the one behind this Delap deal. He rates the English forward quite highly after he saw him at Man City during the earlier stages of his career. Wilcox was part of City's academy projects from the 13/14 season until 22/23 before he left for Southampton's Director of Football role.
During his time at the blue half of Manchester, Wilcox will have crossed paths with Delap with the 22 year old being at City since 2019. He did have loan spells at other clubs but always found his way back to the Cityzens with his final stint being for their U21s in 2024. He then left on a permanent transfer to Ipswich worth €17.85m.
I can't understand this mentality from United. To not be in for someone like Osimhen but have the English Rasmus as the number 1 striker target is baffling.
Osimhen literally ticks all the box and is ready to go whereas Delap is pretty much the English Hojlund. The only differences is that Delap has played in England and is English. We know how things can get overhyped for the British players.
I've already seen so many of these clips to suggest that Delap is the guy to come in and be exactly what we need. Maybe he could be. Maybe he'll be exactly like Hojlund and in a couple years, we'll all be having the same frustrations as we do with our current 22 year old striker.
Osimhen gives us more of a chance to have what we need now. Even though they were all passed it, all of Ibrahimovic, Cavani and Ronaldo proved what experience and quality can do for a team. Osimhen may not be as good as them (yet) but isn't far off and is only 26. He has much of his career left.
We've seen this season as well what top experienced players can do for us with the likes of Mazraoui and De Ligt, the two of whom have being two of our better players.
If Delap does join, of course we will back him. But people shouldn't be expecting a world class season from him and shouldn't get carried away with the clips. Anyone can look good with clips. If anything, this could hurt Delap's career if he came to Old Trafford because it will put even more pressure on him.
People shouldn't start crying if we end up in the same situation with Delap as we are in with Rasmus in a year or two. We're kind of asking for it.
Liam Delap is Man Utd's striker priority | Creator: Julian Finney | Credit: Getty Images Copyright: 2025 Getty Images via Goal
Victor Osimhen is NOT a Man Utd target | Image credit: Getty Images via Goal