Manchester Evening News‘s United correspondent Samuel Luckhurst has poured cold water on reports that the club are interested in signing Napoli forward Victor Osimhen.

The 23-year-old has been linked with the Red Devils, along with Arsenal and Newcastle, in recent days but Luckhurst has dismissed the speculation:

“When Rangnick said it was ‘obvious’ United needed a striker, that was permission for clubs, agents and reporters to put spurious stories out there linking any striker with a pulse. I have literally never seen him play. Napoli always seem to be quite vocal about the futures of prized assets. It’s all part of the posturing and rather tedious.”

Luckhurst is rather inconsistent in terms of his reliability so it may not be wise to totally dismiss claims about United’s interest in Osimhen.

The Nigerian international has been on the club’s radar for at least two years, before he made the switch to Napoli from Lille, so there is probably some truth in recent reports. Whether that leads to a concrete bid from United, is another matter entirely.

It was claimed over the weekend that Napoli may demand as much as £100m for the striker and, if that figure is accurate, it’s very unlikely that the Manchester club will look to pursue him.