Manchester United will be in the market for a new striker on the summer 2025 transfer window for what seems like the third year running. According to a report from Foot Mercato’s Santi Aouna and Sebastien Denis, Man United currently have a shortlist of four strikers that includes Victor Osimhen from Napoli, Sporting CP’s Viktor Gyokeres, and Ipswich Town’s Liam Delap as well as another unnamed player. Of those four, Gyokeres is their top target.
It isn’t surprising to see that Manchester United have a wide net of players they are interested in at striker, and the unnamed European No. 9 could very well be Hugo Ekitke of Eintracht Frankfurt or Benjamin Sesko of RB Leipzig – both talented young Bundesliga marksmen are wanted by other elite Premier League sides like Arsenal, Chelsea, and even Liverpool.
Viktor Gyokeres has more goals this season
Osimhen is the biggest name of the three strikers specifically linked to Manchester United by Foot Mercato, and he can be signed at a discounted rate after spending the 2024/25 season in Turkey with Galatasaray; he now has a 75 million euro release clause to facilitate a transfer.
At this point, though, it feels like Chelsea have a right of first refusal of sorts with Osimhen, as the Napoli star and former Serie A Capocannoniere winner appears to dream of a transfer to Stamford Bridge.
Gyokeres as the priority target for Manchester United makes sense. He is a pure goal-scorer with a jaw-dropping 38 goals in league play for Sporting this season, and, well, Man United need goals badly above all else.
Right now, their strikers are Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund, and Zirkzee’s own future is in doubt after a lukewarm first season in which he didn’t fit Manchester United and seems to be out of the picture for Ruben Amorim.
Gyokeres could be cheaper than Victor Osimhen
Speaking of Amorim, it’s no secret that he worked well with Gyokeres in Lisbon and helped the Swedish international develop into the best goal-scorers in European football.
The chance to work with Gyokeres again at Old Trafford would surely appeal to Amorim. Plus, with Osimhen, per Foot Mercato, wanting to make 12 million euros in wages, Gyokeres should be cheaper than the Napoli star, even if he ends up costing closer to 70 million pounds than 55 million pounds.
Manchester United will have more leeway to getting a top-class striker this summer financially by winning the Europa League over, presumably, Tottenham, and, thus, Gyokeres becomes the priority to bring home those goals. He even has a good track record in the Champions League, too, including against United’s crosstown rivals Manchester City.
Joe Soriano covers Tottenham for FanSided’s Hotspur HQ and writes about Real Madrid for The Real Champs. He has extensive experience covering world football since 2014. Joe is an editor for The Trivela Effect, where he covers the biggest clubs in European football. He has watched professional sports regularly since 2002 and can be found playing the same sports he covers with his friends.