The Nigerian was meant to join Real Madrid, PSG or an elite English club this summer - but he's ended up at a Europa League team instead
Victor Osimhen was a man with a plan. He may have signed a new contract with Napoli last December in order to significantly increase his salary, but he never had any intention of staying at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona beyond the end of the 2023-24 campaign.
The striker knew where he wanted to go and, more importantly, how he was going to get there. "Since I've started [playing professionally], I've been the one making my own decisions," he told CBS Sports in January, "and everything is working out well for me." Not anymore, though.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, Osimhen was given a rapturous welcome after arriving in Istanbul ahead of the completion of his loan move to Galatasaray. He may have been all smiles - but this was not part of the plan. This was a most unexpected humiliation, an utterly calamitous conclusion to a transfer saga involving Osimhen and Napoli that has yielded no winners - only losers.
Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis admitted in January that the club had known since last summer that Osimhen wanted out - and they were willing to let him go, too. Just not right away.
De Laurentiis understandably didn't want to sell Osimhen immediately after the striker had scored 26 times to finish as the capocannoniere at the end of a historic Serie A title triumph. Osimhen, for his part, was willing to spend another year playing for a club and fanbase that had shown him so much love and support since his arrival from Lille in 2020.
So, after painfully protracted negotiations a compromise was reached: Osimhen would sign a contract extension until 2026 and see his salary rise to approximately €11m (£9m/$12m) per annum, but the new deal would also feature a buyout clause of €120m (£100m/$130m), which was significant as De Laurentiis had claimed during the summer of 2023 that it would take an offer of €200m (£170m/$220m) for him to even consider parting with his most valuable asset.
According to reports, he had even turned down a €140m (£120m/$154m) offer from Al-Hilal. But De Laurentiis was happy to accept slightly less money if he meant getting another season out of Osimhen, and there was not a doubt in his mind that a top European team would meet the fixed asking price.
Indeed, in January, the Partenopei president went so far as to publicly proclaim that Osimhen would join "Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain or an English team" during the 2024 summer transfer window. So, how on earth did he end up in Istanbul instead? A combination of greed, pride and complete incompetence.
Goal.com