When Victor Osimhen led Napoli to its first Serie A title in over thirty years, he started to receive the kind of admiration that was once only given to Diego Maradona in the southern city.
That was just a little more than a year ago.
Now, Osimhen is in a difficult situation with Napoli, as the club couldn’t find a buyer for the high-scoring Nigerian striker before the transfer window closed in Europe’s top five leagues on Friday.
Osimhen had expected to join a new club by now, but instead, he has been left out of Napoli’s squad recently and has not been training with the team.
If a Saudi Arabian club does not make an offer, the African player of the year might remain in this tough spot for months until the next transfer window opens in January. Both sides have contributed to the problem.
Napoli reportedly had significant offers for Osimhen a year ago, but club president Aurelio De Laurentiis persuaded him to stay and started talks for a contract extension that ended up more than doubling his salary.
Then last September, an upset Osimhen removed almost all photos of himself in Napoli’s shirt from his social media after the club posted a video online that seemed to mock his penalty-taking skills following a missed penalty in a draw against Bologna.
Napoli later removed the video and apologized.
The contract extension was signed in December, keeping Osimhen with Napoli until 2025-2026. His salary was increased to 11 million euros ($12 million) per season, and a release clause of 130 million euros ($144 million) was added to the contract.
Although Osimhen scored 26 goals when Napoli won Serie A in 2023, he has frequently been hindered by injuries throughout his career, and no club has been willing to pay the full release clause. His high salary has also been a barrier.
