Galatasaray striker, Victor Osimhen has opened up on how then-Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis forced him to accept a transfer to the Serie A club in the summer of 2020.
Osimhen spoke while providing his statement to the Italian police as part of the investigation into allegations of irregularities in his transfer process from Lille to Napoli five years ago.
Speaking to the Financial Police Department as part of the ongoing investigation in Italy, the Nigerian international suggested that De Laurentiis forced him to accept the transfer in the summer of 2020.
The 26-year-old said (via Habersarikirmizi): “My previous agent, Jean Gerard, had told me that Napoli were seriously interested. But he was only interested in my transfer, not my father’s health. At the time, I wasn’t focused on football; I just wanted to know how he was doing.
“Gerard called me to meet him in Nice. Lille’s president, Gerard Lopez, was also there. They told me I needed to transfer to Napoli, that a general agreement had been made, and that it was a good opportunity for Lille due to the pandemic. But I knew nothing.”
“I was very angry with Lille and my agent after my father’s death,” Osimhen said. “Because I hadn’t been able to see him before he died.
“They even told me I had to go to Napoli the day after my father’s death. I went to Napoli out of respect for the Lille president, but I wasn’t going to sign anything.
“I met with the manager first, and he explained the project to me. The next day, I met with De Laurentiis in Capri.
“He told me about the city and the club, but I didn’t understand what he and Giuntoli [Cristiano Giuntoli – Napoli’s sporting director at the time] were talking about because they were speaking Italian. They asked me if I’d seen the contract, but I didn’t understand a thing.”
