You do not really need to be a Napoli fan to be interested in the future of their 25 year old Nigerian international striker, Victor Osimhen, as he is rarely far from the headlines.
He has been a hot property on the transfer window rumour mill for a number of months given his performances for the Serie A side and English Premier League team Chelsea were one of the more notable clubs linked with having an interest in him, but they were far from alone in having in reportedly tracking his progress with an eye to making a potential move.
However, the English window has now closed and no move was finalised, so despite speculation linking him with Saudi Arabian side Al-Ahli, if reports are to be believed, he is now a top target for Turkish giants Galatasaray.
The club themselves have confirmed that they are in talks with Napoli over securing a deal for the player who has scored 76 goals in 133 games for the I Partenopei, and his goalscoring return was, of course, crucial for their 2022/23 Serie A title win as he bagged 26 goals as he helped fire them to the top of the table.
They obviously did not keep that form going and have struggled since then, and last season Osimhen only managed to reach 15 goals, however there are plenty of other issues to consider at the club, so his standing in the wider game has not waned, and it was clearly still a decent return across the season.
Fuelling further rumours of an imminent departure is the fact that new manager Antonio Conte has recently signed Chelsea and Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku – another familiar face in Serie A – and many believe that he is obviously designed to be his direct replacement.
Galatasaray took to social media recently to announce.
“Official negotiations have begun with the football player and his club SSCN Napoli SPA regarding the temporary transfer of professional footballer Victor James Osimhen.”
This does obviously suggest that their main approach right now is simply a loan deal, and until talks progress further we will not know if that loan deal would then include a permanent buy clause or an obligated one, but if their contact is accepted then fans of Italian football can safely assume that Osimhen’s future is definitely not at Napoli.
Many will wonder if Galatasaray could pay the fee Napoli would place on him anyway, as there was earlier talk of transfer fees in the region of £70+ million and that would surely rule any Turkish side out based on historical dealings.
We shall simply have to see what happens.
