Galatasaray coach Orkan Buruk is planning to pair Victor Osimhen with Mauro Icardi for their Turkish Super Lig clash against Kasimpasa on Saturday, Soccernet.ng reports.
Osimhen has become the poster boy for Galatasaray since he joined the club from Napoli in the summer. Since he joined, he has dominated most of the news in and around the the club, and has most of the fans behind him.
When Osimhen arrived, it was clear that he was going to become the first-choice striker at the club despite the presence of stars like Icardi, Dries Mertens, and Michy Batshuayi.
Nonetheless, with all these stars, it was expected that Buruk would pair Osimhen with another striker.
In the Lions’ first few games of the season, Buruk has deployed deployed two-man striking force with either Osimhen or Batshuayi and Mertens.
However, that was due to Icardi’s injury. But on Wednesday, the Argentine hitman returned to action for Galatasaray and scored for them in their 3-1 win over PAOK.
Now that Icardi is fully back, there are reports that coach Buruk is planning to pair Osimhen with Icardi in the attack. This invariably means that Mertens would be benched.
While this partnership looks very dangerous on paper, Buruk has to find a way to make it work. Icardi and Osimhen are typical strikers, unlike Mertens who can play as a supporting striker.
Kasimpasa are notorious for conceding goals against Galatasaray, and it will be a good opportunity for Buruk to try out his new attacking partnership.