Osimhen Needs To Stay At Napoli At All Costs
Could Napoli hold the key to Serie A’s future?
As prominent players in their 20s are leaving prestigious Italian clubs for unfancied teams and leagues, could Napoli hold the key to Serie A’s future?
Originally published on Forbes.com by David Ferrini
July was a devastating month for calcio fans as Sandro Tonali waved goodbye to Milan, followed by Sergei Milinkovic-Savic begging to leave Lazio. Both were poached by fiscally elite Newcastle United and Al Hilal, two clubs largely owned by the sovereign wealth fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia. Since then, Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has had to weigh up whether he should cash in on one of his prized assets, Victor Osimhen.
According to Sky Sports, the Partenopei were offered €140M ($154M) from Al Hilal to secure the services of the illustrious Nigerian following Napoli’s failure to negotiate his contract extension. With two seasons remaining on Osimhen’s current deal, expiring in June 2025, the Saudi Premier League (RSL) outfit had proposed a tempting €1M weekly package ($57.2M per season) to trade in sunny Naples for sandy Riyadh. His current weekly wage of €76,000 ($84,000) would increase by a colossal 1215%.
As Italian football stumbles through a quagmire of systemic financial issues, foreign interests with seemingly infinite cashflows are intent on procuring some of the biggest names that Serie A has to offer. This is a phenomenon we saw in the 90s where, much like today’s Saudi Premier League, the English Premier League’s rise was anything but organic as English clubs intelligently swooped for Fabrizio Ravanelli, Ruud Gullit and Gianluca Vialli to broaden its appeal.
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