Victor Osimhen has completed his transfer from Lille to Napoli, but the reports on the cost vary from €47.5m to €81m. Is he the most expensive African player of all time?
President Aurelio De Laurentiis announced the deal via Twitter, as is Napoli tradition, before the two clubs released statements with no reference to the price-tag.
There are vast differences between reports in Italy and France over how much the operation really cost.
Victor Osimhen has completed his transfer from Lille to Napoli, but the reports on the cost vary from €47.5m to €81m. Is he the most expensive African player of all time?
President Aurelio De Laurentiis announced the deal via Twitter, as is Napoli tradition, before the two clubs released statements with no reference to the price-tag.
There are vast differences between reports in Italy and France over how much the operation really cost.
L’Equipe, AFP Sports and Manu Lonjon all point to a total of €81m, although €70m of that is cash and €10-11m in various performance-related bonuses.
Sky Sport Italia, Sportitalia and Tuttomercatoweb all point to €47.5m plus ownership of goalkeeper Orestis Karnezis, youth team captain Claudio Manzi and up to €10m in very difficult to achieve add-ons.
There is a very big difference, not to mention the reports stating this makes Osimhen the most expensive African player in history.
Sky Sport Italia transfer expert Gianluca Di Marzio was more specific today, noting Lille will pay Napoli €20m net for Karnezis, plus youth team players Manzi, Ciro Palmieri and Luigi Liguori.
Napoli are therefore paying €47.5m net for Osimhen in cash, €50m gross, with an extra €20m in player exchanges.
This is why the €81m is so specific, because Lille sold Nicolas Pepe to Arsenal for €80m a year ago.
Where there is more agreement is on the details of the salary, a five-year contract worth in the region of €4.5m net per season, climbing to €5.5m by the final year.
According to Tuttomercatoweb, the contract includes an option to extend for the 2025-26 season as well.