'I've seen a £50m bid has gone in – it's absolute peanuts for my top MU target'

Manchester United icon Rio Ferdinand is adamant that the Red Devils should pursue Napoli's Victor Osimhen as they hunt for a striker, with a £50million rival bid reportedly launched

Rio Ferdinand has urged Manchester United to sign Napoli striker Victor Osimhen to bolster their forward line. The Nigerian has reportedly had an opening £50million offer rejected for his services this week from Turkish side Galatasaray, with whom he spent last season on loan.

The Red Devils have already strengthened an attack that mustered a mediocre 44 league goals last season, the fifth lowest in the top-flight, with the signing of Wolves talisman Matheus Cunha. But, it is no secret that a No. 9 is also on their shortlist.

The club have long been linked with Sporting CP's Viktor Gyokeres, who previously was under the stewardship of Ruben Amorim in Lisbon, but he is now in advanced talks with Arsenal.

Ferdinand, who played 455 times for United and is a six-time Premier League champion, believes sights should be set on another forward. With a rival bid submitted for Osimhen, the 26-year-old is who he thinks his former employers should sign.

"I'm like a broken record. If anyone listens to my podcast, I've said Osimhen for a while now," Ferdinand told talkSPORT on Monday when asked about his No. 1 target for United. "He's a centre-forward, he's experienced, he knows how to score goals at the top level.

"I've seen today that Galatasaray have put a £50m bid in. I mean, £50m to get a top-class striker, one of the top strikers in the world, is absolute peanuts in today's market. I'll be disappointed if he goes to Galatasaray for that type of money when United are crying out for a No. 9."

Sky Italy reports that Napoli have rejected an opening bid in the region of £50m for their star striker, who was shipped out on loan to Turkey last summer.

Out wide, the Red Devils are also looking to add firepower in the form of Brentford's Bryan Mbeumo, who netted 20 times last top-flight campaign. An initial £55m bid was turned down, but Amorim's side returned with an improved offer, which was also rebuffed.

Reports suggested a deal was close to being completed, and the Cameroonian prefers a move to Old Trafford, though radio silence has fallen on the deal and a third bid is yet to arrive. Ferdinand, though, isn't panicking, as he added: "Listen, Rome wasn't built in a day, was it? People can get frustrated, but there's still a lot of time left in the window.

"Obviously, you'd like to get your business done early, which would be great, but I don't think everything pans out like that and you've got to be extremely lucky for that to happen.

"We've got Cunha in, it seems like the club are adamant that they want to get Mbeumo, but they want to get the deal done at the right price that suits the club, that's what's part of negotiations and getting that done.

"I think ideally, you'd like to see stuff done in the background and you just announce a signing, but it's not been that way. I think if we do get him, he's the type of player that I've been screaming about for probably over a year now, in terms of type of player, who's mobile, who's dynamic, aggressive.

"He can score goals, and is going to add value to the team. So I'm hopeful that that gets done, but I would still like to see a centre forward signed at the football club."