‘Forced to negotiate while my father died’ – Osimhen reveals heartbreak behind Napoli transfer

Victor Osimhen’s transfer from Lille to Napoli in 2020 is under investigation by the Italian authorities, but the Nigeria international has detailed the personal heartbreak he suffered in making the move.

The near-€80 million deal that took Osimhen to the Serie A giants is being studied in Italy because of potential financial irregularities, which has led to accusations that both Lille and Napoli were manipulating their accounts.

The Nigeria striker has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the deal, but in a statement given to Italy’s Guardia di Finanza and published in La Repubblica, he has revealed a background of immense personal tragedy to the move.

“The agent [Jean Gerard] I had before told me that Napoli were seriously interested, but he only cared about the transfer itself, not about my father’s health,” Osimhen said in his statement.

“At the time, I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to think about football – I just wanted to know how my father was doing.

“Gerard called me to meet him in Nice. Luis Campos and Lille president Gerard Lopez were there too. They told me that I had to move to Napoli, that there was a preliminary agreement and that, because of the pandemic, it was a good opportunity for Lille. But I didn’t know anything about it.”

‘I was furious with Lille and my agent’

Tragically, Osimhen’s father passed away, yet the clubs continued to negotiate at pace.

“After my father’s death, I was furious with Lille and my agent, because I hadn’t been able to see him before he died,” the striker said.

“They even told me I had to leave for Napoli the very next day, without even having time to process my father’s death. Out of respect for Lille’s president, I went to Naples anyway, but I had no intention of signing anything.

“I met the coach, who explained the project to me, and the next day I met Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis in Capri. He talked to me about the city and the club, but I couldn’t understand what he and Cristiano Giuntoli were saying because they spoke in Italian. He asked me if I had seen the contract, but I hadn’t received anything.

“When I went back to the hotel, I asked my agent for the draft of the contract. He told me he didn’t have it. I was surprised, because the president had said otherwise. Eventually, he showed me a sheet of paper – a sort of draft agreement with Napoli. I got angry and wanted to return to France. I asked Lopez for a week off and went to Paris. Then, when I got back to Lille, I decided to cut ties with that agent.”

Osimhen would eventually move to Napoli, where he became a hero by firing them to the Serie A title, yet his time in Italy would end ingloriously as he fell out with the club and completed a €75m transfer to Galatasaray on a permanent basis last summer.

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