Victor Osimhen and Napoli are stuck with each other, but this was an avoidable situation created by greed, unrealistic expectations and bad timing from everyone – including Chelsea – writes Susy Campanale.
It was considered the nightmare scenario going into the final weeks of the transfer window, that all the best laid plans would fall apart, leaving both club and player empty-handed. Although it is difficult to consider someone who will be earning almost €11m per season to sit in the stands as being all that empty-handed, this is certainly the last thing that everyone wanted. The worst part is that it was so avoidable.
The drama that unfolded on deadline day was just the whole situation in microcosm – arrogance and greed leading all parties to push things too far. Napoli had agreed a fee of €70m plus €10m in bonuses with Al-Ahli, with the player receiving €40m per season wages and crucially also an affordable release clause for a return to Europe in the near future, but the Partenopei asked for an extra €5m and irritated the Saudis.
If the club had been prepared to accept the offer from Chelsea, then Osimhen was not, refusing throughout the summer to accept any cut from the €10m per season sealed in December 2023, let alone more than halving it. Sky Sport Italia report that the Blues offered €4m in fixed pay, with the other €4m in bonuses, most of it tied to Champions League qualification. Considering their recent results and ability to scrape into the Conference League, excuse him for not exactly being confident he’d get that money.
Osimhen contract key to Napoli crisis
That contract in December 2023 was the real cause of the whole problem. It was done with the express intention to sell within six months, before the new salary really kicked in and with clubs presumed to be lining up to pay the bargain €130m release clause. Except six months later, everything had changed and nobody in Naples was prepared to accept the new reality.
It was bad timing, really, because last summer they could easily have got €130m for Osimhen, but the Premier League bubble had to burst eventually and even they could no longer afford to flash around ridiculous transfer fees. Even Paris Saint-Germain have taken a different tack to star names after the Kylian Mbappé saga, also the reason why Real Madrid were not remotely interested in the Nigerian.
Since the contract was signed, Napoli had also plummeted to mid-table after their Scudetto surge, former Capocannoniere Osimhen was struggling to make an impact in a chaotic team and his injury record kept getting worse, especially when having to go all the way to the Africa Cup of Nations final in February. Memories are awfully short in football, today’s star man is next summer’s has-been, the ratings move faster than TikTok fashion trends.
We cannot only blame Napoli and Osimhen, however. The other clubs also showed terrible arrogance in assuming the player would rush to join them, lowering his wages and casting aside all other offers. No, Chelsea are not such a big draw now, especially when the squad is already bloated beyond belief and huge signings are frozen out with little thought. At least PSG were in the Champions League, even if they thought Napoli should sell for less than they paid when Osimhen made that initial move from LOSC. Arsenal, who he probably would’ve suited the most, simply weren’t that interested.
We’ll see what happens now, but everyone at Napoli has reason to both be angry and take a good, long look at themselves in the mirror, because there’s plenty of blame to be shared around and it cannot get resolved until they all acknowledge that.
Greed and arrogance are in the DNA of ADL…. £130million for Oshimen was a ridiculous expectation. He is already yesterday’s news.
ADL’s Napoli is now stuck with a wages bill for a player they don’t need and one who’s embittered by the greed of a stu**d and greedy Management and wouldn’t want to play for them either. They should explore the possibilities of the Saudi’s coming back otherwise the bitterness would linger @their expense.