Victor Osimhen’s agent explains the striker ‘wanted to be sure it was the right choice’ to join Napoli and had offers from England and Germany too.
The transfer was finally completed yesterday for €50m cash, €10m in bonuses, plus ownership of Orestis Karnezis and three youth team players.
It took longer than expected because Osimhen fired his agent Jean-Gerard Benoit Czajka just days after he took a tour of the Napoli facilities, meeting President Aurelio De Laurentiis and coach Gennaro Gattuso.
Victor Osimhen’s agent explains the striker ‘wanted to be sure it was the right choice’ to join Napoli and had offers from England and Germany too.
The transfer was finally completed yesterday for €50m cash, €10m in bonuses, plus ownership of Orestis Karnezis and three youth team players.
It took longer than expected because Osimhen fired his agent Jean-Gerard Benoit Czajka just days after he took a tour of the Napoli facilities, meeting President Aurelio De Laurentiis and coach Gennaro Gattuso.
According to Nigerian sports reporter and close associate of Osimhen, Oma Akatugba, this was because when Osimhen made the journey to Naples, he didn’t realise the contract and transfer had already been drawn up for him to sign.
They were ready to abandon the whole deal until Lille helped bring in a new agent, D’Avila.
“It was a great deal and, like any move of this size, required a lot of organisation,” D’Avila told Radio Kiss Kiss.
“Victor is happy, he can’t wait to come back to Naples and begin working with his new team. It’s not that the transfer was difficult, rather it took a long time, because we wanted to be sure it was the right choice.
“There were several clubs pushing to get involved, from England and Germany, but after some reflection, we decided Napoli was the right decision. It’s the right club for Victor to achieve results and success.
“Director of sport Cristiano Giuntoli was the most important figure in these talks, as he called non-stop to convince Victor. There were also individual discussions with Gattuso and they immediately got along very well.
“He spoke to some of his new teammates to figure out how they play, the atmosphere in Serie A, and everyone put him at ease. The rumours about him being worried by racism aren’t entirely true, as he knows full well there is racism everywhere in football, not just in Italy.”
President De Laurentiis also confirmed that Osimhen will wear the Number 9 jersey.
“He’s a goal machine,” added D’Avila. “That’s why he chose the Number 9 shirt.”