Newcastle United are among the many clubs keen to prise Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen away from Napoli in the summer, but they will face quite the fight.
A report in Italy has suggested that Newcastle actually lodged an £88million bid for Victor Osimhen a couple of transfer windows ago that was rejected by Napoli.
Il Corriere dello Sport (via Football Italia.net) claims Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis rejected a bid from Newcastle for Osimhen a year and a half ago. I suspect they mean in the January 2022 window as Newcastle were eyeing a move for Osimhen after they failed with an approach for Dusan Vlahovic.
PIF were keen on Osimhen before they got the keys at Newcastle
The PIF had been eyeing Osimhen since before they even took over Newcastle, so he will likely remain on their wish list until he signs for a new club or definitively states his desire to stay with Napoli.
De Lorentiis spoke in February about his desire to keep his best talent at the club saying: “I am very good at making contracts, so keeping them here won’t be difficult.
“However, never say never. Sometimes there are offers you can’t refuse, so you never know. To me, we’ll see them shine for a long time.”
Here he was speaking specifically about his two biggest assets, Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia who are heavily linked with a move to the Premier League with Newcastle keeping tabs on both players.
Napoli are desperate to keep their stars for next season
It’s now thought that a bid between £100m-£130million is what it would take to get De Lorentiis to part with Osimhen which could make PIF think twice about returning with another attempt for the striker labelled as ‘Impressive, incisive, indomitable’ by Eurosport after Napoli demolished Juventus 5-1.
A transfer of that size is not beyond the realms of possibility this summer, but there are a lot of moving parts to make it viable. Several players would have to be moved on for decent fees, more lucrative sponsorship deals will need to be struck and most importantly, the team will need to have qualified for the Champions League.
All of those things combined will give us enough wiggle room with Financial Fair Play to justify a huge spend on one player with a few less spectacular, but still not cheap, incomings alongside. Then of course, it will be about continuous Champions League qualification going forward to make sure we always have that level of revenue incoming.
Even if we don’t manage to land Osimhen or a player of equivalent value, we’re a long way away from where we were two years ago when we allegedly couldn’t afford the £1million loan-fee for Hamza Choudhury.
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