Osimhen left in limbo after being removed from Napoli squad
Victor Osimhen’s future is currently in the air after a series of recent dramatic events. Despite just signing a new contract with Napoli in December, the club wanted to sell the striker during the summer.
This, however, has not yet occurred. As a result, Osimhen will likely remain on Napoli’s books, even though they clearly do not want him.
New manager Antonio Conte made his feelings quite clear in the situation by recently bringing in Romelu Lukaku. The Belgian plays the same position as Osimhen and is a direct replacement.
Napoli and Chelsea were in negotiations regarding Lukaku for much of the summer. The Blues previously insisted on receiving $44 million for the striker. Nevertheless, they eventually had to settle for $33 million.
Osimhen forced to the sidelines after omission from Napoli squad
With Lukaku officially in the team, Napoli focused on selling Osimhen. The center-forward looked set to depart the team on Friday amid interest from both Chelsea and Al-Ahli.
The Blues were willing to sign the striker ahead of the transfer window closing on the night. Nevertheless, Chelsea and Osimhen could not agree to a contract in time.
The Napoli star did, however, agree to a massive contract with Al-Ahli. The deal would have allowed Osimhen to rake in around $44 million per year. This is essentially four times his current salary with the Italian club.
Despite the agreement, Napoli did not sanction the move. Al-Ahli apparently could not offer the right amount of money to the opposing team. In turn, the Saudi side swiveled to sign former Brentford striker Ivan Toney instead.
After two moves fell through, Osimhen is now stuck at Napoli. The club, however, has now opted to remove the star striker from their official Serie A squad. This means that the Nigeria international now cannot even feature for the team during league play this season.
Striker may have to wait until January to move on from club
Defender Mario Rui was left out of the squad too. The move was to make room for new incoming players.
Former Roma star Leonardo Spinazzola was brought in earlier in the summer to compete with Mathias Olivera at Rui’s left-back position.
Along with the free deal for Spinazzola, Napoli also spent $165 million on a series of new players.
This list includes Alessandro Buongiorno, Scott McTominay, David Neres, Billy Gilmour, and the aforementioned Lukaku. Juventus was the only Serie A team to spend more money on transfers this summer than Napoli.
Osimhen could possibly still be on the move to a Saudi team. Although many European transfer windows are shut, Saudi clubs can sign new players for a further week. A switch to Al-Ahli, however, seems extremely unlikely due to their move for Toney.
As a result, Osimhen may have to wait on the sidelines until a potential move away from Italy in January. The European transfer window opens back up in the new year. At the moment, this appears to be the most likely scenario for the striker.
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