AS Napoli of Italy’s director of football, Cristiano Giuntoli has confirmed that his club is yet to reach a contract agreement with Lille Metropole of France striker, Victor Osimhen, despite disclosing that they held elaborate talks with him at the start of this month, megasportsarena.com reports.
While acknowledging that the former VfL Wolfsburg of Germany and Sporting Charleroi of Belgium youngster is a very promising player, who showed great excitement and enthusiasm during his visit to the club’s base in Naples, Giuntoli admits Napoli have not struck a deal with the lad.
Despite widespread reports indicating that Osimhen was in Naples last week for transfer talks, Giuntoli sounded deflated, as he concluded that the Super Eagles’ youngster, who is the all-time highest goals scorer in the history of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, after top scoring with ten at Chile 2015, ended up merely taking a sight-seeing tour of Naples.
Giuntoli said, “Osimhen is a very interesting lad. We do not have any agreements with him or Lille. He came to visit the city and see if he likes it, we’re interested in him along with many other clubs.
“Honestly, the transfer market is very quiet at the moment. It feels like early May more than July, so we’re quiet both outgoing and incoming. We are working on contract renegotiations and hope to make them official soon.”
This comes amidst reports that Osimhen personally rejected the offer from Napoli, despite meeting with the club’s president, Aurelio De Laurentiis and the coach, Genarro Gattuso at the supremo’s home on the island of Capri.
This now marks the third time since the start of 2020 that Napoli will fail to snatch the 21-year-old in-form striker, who joined Lille last summer from Charleroi and has quickly emerged as one of Europe’s top prospects after a single season in the French Ligue 1.
He has been severally sought after by 12 top European clubs – four each in England, Spain and Italy – after netting 18 goals and providing six assists in 38 games; but one of his representatives, Osita Okolo disclosed that the lad is not in a hurry to leave Lille.
He added that Osimhen’s decision to reject Napoli’s offer has to do with issues about his private and professional life, but denied reports that the youngster is holding out for a better offer from a top club in the English Premier League, especially Manchester United or Arsenal.
Okolo told Radio Kiss Kiss Napoli: “He is not waiting for calls from English clubs. The story of the Premier League is a huge lie! It is his personal decision, which concerns his private and professional life. There will be a meeting with his entourage and he will soon make his decision known.”
Sowunmi kehinde@Sowunmikehinde1