It Was Victor Osimhen’s Decision Not To Play For Us Again – Napoli Chief

Napoli’s sporting director, Giovanni Manna has placed the blame on Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen for the ongoing tensions between him and the club.

Osimhen was close to moving to Chelsea in the Premier League or Al Ahli in Saudi Arabia, but both deals fell through on the final day of the transfer window.

After the window closed on August 31, Victor Osimhen was left out of Napoli’s Serie A squad, and his number 9 shirt was given to new signing, Romelu Lukaku.

Speaking with DAZN, Manna confirmed that Osimhen had expressed a strong desire to leave Napoli, noting that it was the striker’s decision to stop playing for the club.

The Napoli chief 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.

“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 spoke about the possibility of Osimhen moving to another Saudi club, saying “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.”

He added that Osimhen’s situation has also created a financial strain on Napoli, as his sale was expected to fund 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,” Manna explained.

KanyiDaily recalls that Napoli previously wanted to sell Victor Osimhen to Al Ahli, turning down an offer from Chelsea.