Napoli director confirms Osimhen’s €81m deal, says Lille striker now ready to move
Napoli Director, Cristiano Giuntoli, has confirmed that Nigeria and Lille striker, Victor Osimhen would be ready to move to Serie A club on €81million deal.
The Napoli bigwig has been on intensive negotiations with Lille, hoping to finally convince Osimhen, as L’Equipe reported that ‘the deal is already settled’.
The 21-year-old Nigerian forward already visited the Napoli training facilities, plus the homes of coach Gennaro Gattuso and President Aurelio De Laurentiis.
He spoke to Kalidou Koulibaly, who reassured him that there is no issue with racism in Naples, but Osimhen is still hesitant to accept the move.
read also:Iwobi’s Value Drops To €25.5m, Osimhen Too
According to multiple reports, including Sky Sport Italia, Sportitalia and the Corriere dello Sport, Napoli director Giuntoli met Lille President Gerard Lopez and Osimhen’s new intermediaries for more face-to-face negotiations on Monday.
He hopes to sweep aside the remaining doubts and convince Osimhen that this is the best step for his career.
The cost of the operation will be in the region of €50m plus Ounas, according to the Corriere dello Sport, which will bring the total up to L’Equipe’s evaluation of €81m.
Even Radio Kiss Kiss Napoli – the official radio station connected to the club – said the deal is expected by Thursday.
The key to pushing past some of Osimhen’s concerns was the inclusion of a new intermediary last week, who helped smooth over issues within his own entourage, as confirmed by our sources in Nigeria.
L’Equipe even claimed Gattuso is prepared to cut his own salary in order to raise funds for Osimhen’s arrival.
In the same vein, Osimhen is expected to sign for Napoli over the next 48 hours, our sources informed Football Italia, as the problem was always with his agent, who is now threatening to sue the Lille striker.
Multiple sources including L’Equipe claimed that final negotiations are taking place between today and tomorrow in Sardinia to secure the deal, worth in the region of €81m.
The Corriere dello Sport maintain it’ll be €50m cash plus full-back Adam Ounas to cover the difference.
Our sources close to Osimhen confirm the issue that had prompted him to turn down Napoli last week was with his entourage and that was smoothed over by the arrival of a new intermediary.
Now those same sources confirm – as is also reported by RAI Sport and CalcioNapoli24 – that the previous agent was trying to negotiate extra bonuses for himself rather than focusing on the best deal for the player.
The agent will be sacked and is now threatening to sue Osimhen.