With Rafael Leao leaving Lille for Milan this summer, the Ligue 1 runners-up need to act fast to find his replacement.
The Portuguese winger-cum-striker had an amazing campaign last season.
Aside from his tally of eight goals and two assists in 24 games in Ligue 1, Leao was a crucial player upfront.
His pace and power were extremely impressive.
When combined with his excellent positioning, off the ball movements, and overall technical ability hes often far too difficult to handle.
But this summer, Lille had to say goodbye to the 20-year-old wonderboy.
The former Sporting CP forward signed a lucrative five-year deal with Milan with Lille getting paid an impressive amount of €30 million despite only getting the player for free roughly a year prior.
This deal, again, proves what a genius sporting director Luis Campos is.
Hes not just excellent at spotting talents; hes also a smart deal-maker.
Several names surfaced in the summer as Lille looked to replace Leao.
From Watfords Dodi Lukebakio, Paris FCs Silas Wamangituka, and then Royal Charleroi S.C.s Victor Osimhen.
Each of the three had an amazing campaign last season and looked quite similar in terms of style of play albeit some differences.
Despite Wamangituka actually being the cheapest target, Campos decided to sign Osimhen who scored 20 goals and provided four assists in 36 games across all competitions for Charleroi.
Well take a look at how he performed last season and how hell fit in at Lille this season in this scout report.
In this tactical analysis, well take a look at why Osimhen could potentially be the smartest signing out of the three.
Victor Osimhen Player Profile
The three Lille targets this summer all have similarities with Leao.
They all have such impressively athletic physique.
This provides them with a massive advantage in their game, especially when combined with their technical proficiency and tactical intelligence.
Osimhen has a lean body build but he looks quite muscular.
He seems to be naturally fit and strong.
The 21-year-old striker is 1.85 m (603) tall and for a player his height, hes quite agile and possesses very good body balance and coordination.
Hes a very difficult man to shrug off the ball when hes shielding or dribbling it due to the mixture of his strength and body balance.
His good agility also means that despite his fairly large frame, Osimhen can move and change directions with or without the ball quite quickly.
The Nigeria international is also very good in the air.
Firstly, this is due to his very good jumping reach.
Aside from his tall figure, he seems to have a good core and lower-body strength as well as plyometric strength which in turn helps him generate excellent velocity which launches him quite high vertically.
Secondly, he seems to also have a quite good upper-body strength and body balance which make him quite solid in the air.
All of these coupled with his good reading of the game, positioning, and movements make Osimhen a genuine threat in the air upfront while also being extremely useful defensively.
Osimhen made an impressive amount of 13 aerial challenges per game on average last season and he managed to win around 42% of them.
This means that hes not just actively making aerial challenges, but hes also winning a good amount of them.
RB Leipzigs Yussuf Poulsen, who is also a towering player and very good in the air, average
