A bombshell report from the Italian newspaper ‘La Repubblica’ dropped this Wednesday, pulling back the curtain on Victor Osimhen’s massive 2020 transfer. The story centers on how his move from Lille to Napoli, costing a hefty sum, might have involved a clever “scheme.” It suggests that both clubs worked together to bump up the player’s value beyond what was really spent.
The article claims the full transfer fee reached around 70 million euros. But here’s the catch: Napoli reportedly only had about 50 million euros ready at the time. To bridge this gap, and perhaps to signal to the market that the Nigerian forward was worth far more, the two clubs reportedly found a workaround. Osimhen, by the way, currently plays for Galatasaray.
This is where Luigi Liguori, Claudio Manzi, and Ciro Palmieri enter the picture. These three players mostly made their careers in Italy’s and France’s lower leagues. Curiously, they all moved from Napoli to Lille in 2020 with some surprisingly high price tags: 4 million euros for Liguori, 4 million euros for Manzi, and 7 million euros for Palmieri. Adding to this group was the experienced Greek goalkeeper, Orestis Karnezis, who followed the same path that year for roughly 5 million euros. When you tally up these four players, Lille ended up paying a total of 20 million euros. This figure perfectly matched the difference, allowing Napoli to “pay” 50 million euros for Osimhen, bringing the total value of the transactions to the original 70 million euros.
A Deal Shrouded in Secrecy
The ‘La Repubblica’ piece also highlights the secretive nature of these dealings. It included a message from Giuseppe Pompilio, who was a Napoli executive back then. In this message, sent to a Lille official, Pompilio made it very clear that certain information needed to stay out of public view. “Nothing in writing, there’s no need to write,” the message read. “And we can’t leave any trace through email. Verbally, we can discuss anything required.” These words paint a picture of a deal handled very much behind closed doors.