Bayern Munich believe they have everything in place for a £100m summer purchase of Eintracht Frankfurt's Randal Kolo Muani, in a move that could kickstart the entire summer transfer window.
The No 9 market is seen as the driving force of the close-season, with the German champions, Manchester United and Chelsea all looking for the same type of player.
The three leading strikers seen as buyable, and on a higher level than anyone else, are Kolo Muani, Harry Kane and – above all – Napoli’s Victor Osimhen.
All of the three clubs have listed the Napoli title winner as a top target. While club president Aurelio De Laurentis is open to selling Osimhen in order to strengthen the team as a whole, that is only at a high price of €150m. All of the interested clubs have so far balked at that figure, which has seen Bayern turn to Kolo Muani with more intent.
Should they secure the French international, as a number of sources connected to the situation believe is increasingly likely, it will cause competitors to move elsewhere with greater urgency. One issue for United is that the ongoing takeover process means they are unsure of their budget, so have a series of targets anchored to different valuations. While Osimhen is the main option, the list also includes Internazionale's Lauturo Martinez and, much lower down, Atalanta's Rasmus Hojlund.
Chelsea will bring back Romelu Lukaku – although his future is dependent on who becomes the Blues’ next manager – but the club are still looking at strikers, and want to bring in either a premium No 9 or a promising one.
