€75m deal: Victor Osimhen finally ‘chooses’ next club

Napoli striker Victor Osimhen has decided that he wants to continue his career with former loan club Galatasaray, according to a report.

The Nigeria international spent the 2024-25 campaign in Turkey after being frozen out of Antonio Conte’s squad and failing to secure a move to Saudi Arabia on a manic transfer deadline day.

Osimhen seamlessly adapted to the demands of the Turkish Super Lig with a staggering 26 goals from 30 matches, racking up a total of 37 strikes and eight assists from 41 games in all tournaments.

However, the consensus was that Galatasaray would be unable to afford a permanent deal for the former Lille striker, who was expected to complete a move to another European destination or Saudi Arabia this summer.

Following brief talk of Manchester United making a move, Liverpool appeared to have moved to the head of the queue over the past couple of weeks, as Napoli are also working to bring Reds attacker Darwin Nunez to the club.

Osimhen ‘chooses’ Galatasaray amid Liverpool, Man Utd links
Victor Osimhen celebrates after Galatasaray’s second goal on September 14, 2024

It had been claimed that the Serie A champions were ‘rooting’ for Osimhen to join the Reds, who earmarked the Nigeria international as one of their three main striker targets for the summer window, alongside Eintracht Frankfurt’s Hugo Ekitike and Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak.

However, Italian outlet Corriere dello Sport claims that Osimhen is now giving priority to a return to Galatasaray after rejecting a mammoth offer to join Saudi Pro League giants Al-Hilal.

The 26-year-old’s hopes of sealing a Premier League switch have supposedly been extinguished due to the fact that he is unwilling to compromise on his wage demands, whereas Galatasaray are happy to pay him £10.4m a year.

Osimhen only has one year left to run on his contract with Napoli, whom he boasts 76 goals and 18 assists for from 133 matches across all tournaments since his 2020 move.

Why Osimhen’s future could still take another twist
As Osimhen is in the final 12 months of his deal, Napoli are ostensibly not in a position to demand a premium fee for the Nigerian, especially given their mutual desire to part ways.

However, Osimhen’s deal is understood to contain a €75m (£64.8m) release clause, and Napoli president Aurelio de Laurentiis is currently demanding that sum is paid in full to sanction his departure.

Such a fee would easily make Osimhen Galatasaray’s most expensive signing of all time, smashing the previous record held by Gabriel Sara’s €18m (£15.5m) arrival in the previous summer window.

As things stand, Galatasaray have supposedly only gone as high as €60m (£51.8m), so there will have to be some sort of compromise on one side for Osimhen to leave Napoli in the summer window.

Either the club will have to relent on their demands to allow the Nigerian to join Galatasaray, or Osimhen will have to accept a hit on his wages to potentially reignite interest from the Premier League.