Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen has said he was pressured into signing for Napoli in 2020 while his father was dying, claiming that agents and club officials forced the transfer without his consent.
Osimhen made the revelation in a testimony to Italy’s financial police, Guardia di Finanza, which was leaked to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. His €70 million transfer from Lille to Napoli is now under investigation for alleged false accounting.
The Nigerian forward said he was emotionally unstable during the negotiations and felt ignored by Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis and Lille officials.
“My previous agent, Jean Gerard, had expressed serious interest from Napoli, but he was only interested in my transfer and not in my father’s health. At that time, I didn’t have the head to think about football; I just wanted to know how he was doing,” Osimhen said.
He explained that he was called to a meeting in Nice with Lille officials, who told him an agreement with Napoli had already been reached.
“They told me I should move to Napoli, that there was already an agreement in principle and that, due to the pandemic, it was a good opportunity for Lille. But I knew nothing about it,” he said.
Osimhen added that while the transfer was being negotiated, his father died, and he was unable to see him before his death.
“I was extremely angry with Lille and my agent because I hadn’t been able to see him before he died. They even told me I would have to leave for Naples the next day, without even realising my father’s death,” he said.
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He said he travelled to Italy but refused to sign anything at first because he had not seen any contract.
“De Laurentiis asked me if I had seen the contract, but I hadn’t received anything. Later, my agent showed me a piece of paper — a pseudo-agreement with Napoli. I felt deceived,” Osimhen said.
The striker said he wanted to return to France to take a break from the chaos and later cut ties with his agent, hiring William D’Avila to represent him.
By late July 2020, Osimhen said he signed the contract in Lille, in the presence of Napoli’s Maurizio Micheli, Lille executives, and his new representative, Roberto Calenda.
Meanwhile, Italian prosecutors Lorenzo Del Giudice and Giorgio Ornano have asked for Napoli president De Laurentiis and other officials to stand trial for suspected financial irregularities in the deal.
Investigators allege that both clubs inflated the value of lesser-known players to balance their books. Reports show that four players — goalkeeper Orestis Karnezis and youth players Luigi Liguori, Claudio Manzi, and Ciro Palmieri — were valued at a total of €20 million but never played for Lille.
The case has reopened debate over one of Europe’s most controversial transfers, with Osimhen’s testimony shedding new light on the pressures and irregularities behind the record-breaking deal.