Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis insists Victor Osimhen is not up for sale as the Partenopei ‘don’t have debts’ and warns his players not to commit the same error as Barcelona in their Champions League clash with Eintracht Frankfurt.
Osimhen is Serie A’s best scorer this season, with 16 goals in 17 appearances, including two in the last round against Spezia.
The Nigeria international has been linked with a move to Chelsea or Manchester United in the summer, but De Laurentiis warns that he does not want to part ways with his star striker.
“Victor is not up for sale, our players are in high demand, but we are forced to sell nobody, we don’t have debts,” ADL told the German paper Bild as quoted by Calciomercato.com.
De Laurentiis appeared to taut Napoli’s rivals Juventus here as the Bianconeri confirmed a loss of over €250m for 2021-22 and have been docked 15 points for financial irregularities.
Napoli have only lost two games across all competitions this season, but are firmly on top of the Serie A table with a 13-point lead over second-placed Inter and won their Champions League group in December ahead of Liverpool.
They will meet Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt in the Round of 16, with the first match played in Germany on February 21.
“In the beginning, the feeling was of a non-difficult draw, but it’s not exactly like this,” noted De Laurentiis.
“It’s not a coincidence that they are in the race for the Bundesliga title. We should not think that we are a better team. Barcelona did it last season and we should not make the same mistake.”
The La Liga giants were knocked out of Europa League at the hands of Eintracht last season with the German side eventually lifting the trophy.
Happy for Napoli, finally their correct management payed off