Napoli’s Sporting Director, Giovanni Manna has explained the troubles that Nigerian footballer, Victor Osimhen has found himself in.
Osimhen who has a contract with Napoli was frozen out of the first team by the club’s new coach Antonio Conte.
Explaining what happened, Manna blamed Osimhen for the current hostilities between him and the club saying that it was the footballer’s decision not to play for the club again.
Osimhen was supposed to move to Al Ahli in Saudi Arabia, but the deal collapsed on transfer deadline day in the most dramatic of fashions. Subsequently, the Nigeria international was excluded from Napoli’s Serie A squad and also stripped of the number 9 shirt which was given to new Napoli signing, Romelu Lukaku.
Speaking on the issue, Manna said,
“The situation is very clear, it has been since the end of last season. Victor expressed his absolute desire to not stay at Napoli, to not play for Napoli, and we tried to make him happy,” Manna told DAZN.
“Then there is a demand and an offer, we thought that we had concluded the negotiations, but then it did not go through. We bought Lukaku and kept Raspadori and Simeone, which was not to be taken for granted.
“At this moment, we maintain the same consistency we had since the start: he expressed the desire to no longer play for Napoli, we made other choices.”
Manna also commented on the possibility of Osimhen joining another Saudi club.
“The transfer market is still open, there are many options, but I don’t think Victor will go to Saudi Arabia in this transfer session,” Manna added
Osimhen’s situation is also a huge financial weight on the club, as his sale was meant to raise funds for new transfers.
“Our ideas were clear from the start. We were waiting to sell Victor to finance these operations, but the sale did not arrive and the President took on the responsibility to invest and reboot. He took on all the risk, he was incredible.”
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