It was ‘madness just to imagine’ bringing Victor Osimhen to Galatasaray, said intermediary George Gardi, who explains how he helped broker the lightning fast deal with Napoli over 48 hours.
The striker was frozen out of the Serie A squad following the failed deadline day negotiations with both Al-Ahli and Chelsea on Friday, as he did not want to play for the Partenopei, nor was the club prepared to welcome him back into the fold.
With very few transfer markets still open, intermediary Gardi sprung into action, having already brokered Dries Mertens and Mauro Icardi moves to Turkey from Italy before.
“It was madness just to think about it,” Gardi told Tuttomercatoweb in Italy.
“The operation started at 00.01 on Friday, with the European transfer markets closed. I saw Victor had not left, that there was an unusual situation at Napoli. I asked the club their availability to let him leave on loan, they opened the door and I immediately contacted the Turkish club to tell them this was an opportunity they could not afford to miss, but it had to be done very quickly.
“It had to be started and concluded in the space of 48 hours. They immediately and with great enthusiasm gave me the all-clear. After we talked to Victor, he was open to coming too.”
The rush was because while the Turkish transfer window is open until September 13, Galatasaray need to hand in their Europa League squad list to UEFA today.
The club was also in need of a striker after former Inter star Icardi sustained a muscular injury that will keep him out of action for at least a month.
“Gala are an important club, Osimhen knew it would be an honour for him to play there. We had a video conference call with the coach, Okan Buruk, who explained he wanted to change the system from 4-2-3-1 to a two-striker approach to play with Victor.
“After that call, Victor was already convinced before, but even more so. Official contact started between the clubs and the negotiations developed rapidly, in a very reserved fashion. Being such an important opportunity, I was worried that other clubs could step in or that perhaps someone might reconsider.”
Gardi and Galatasaray moved quickly for Osimhen deal
The news of negotiations with Galatasaray broke on Monday afternoon and by that night at after 3am local time, Gardi and Osimhen landed in Istanbul to be greeted by thousands of celebrating supporters.
“It all took under 48 hours. I arrived in Naples to pick up Victor and his family with the President’s private jet and then we left again. There was a huge crowd at the airport, such incredible enthusiasm from the fans.”
The formal statements from the two clubs confirm this is a dry, free loan, with Galatasaray paying €6m in wages – considerably less than the over €10m per season Osimhen is due to receive at Napoli, so it will be shared out.
At the same time, Napoli secured an option to extend Osimhen’s contract until June 2027, to guarantee their investment in case they cannot sell in the summer of 2025.
“The contracts were complicated and it was tough to get them all done so quickly, but we were very much helped by how open he was,” concluded Gardi.
“Now Galatasaray have the attacking potential to be among the best clubs in Europe, it’s like a videogame team. I cannot imagine the opposition defences against this attack.”
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