Sunday, September 1, 2024 -Napoli sporting director, Giovanni Manna has blamed Nigerian striker, Victor Osimhen over the current hostilities between him and the club saying it was Osimhen's decision not to play for the club again.
Osimhen's move to Premier League club
Chelsea and Saudi club Al Ahli collapsed on transfer deadline day in the most
dramatic of fashions with the London club choosing to sign Jason Sancho while
Al Ahli went for the less expensive Ivan Toney instead.
After the transfer deadline closed at
midnight, August 31, 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.
Manna, however, says Osimhen is to blame.
“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, 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 and so 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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