The Nigerian striker is doing great in Turkey and at league leader Galatasaray, but everyone knows it was an emergency solution after he had to leave Napoli. – After the big league transfer window closed in the summer, Victor Osimhen was still at Napoli without the club having signed him up to play in Serie A.
The 25-year-old striker is enjoying life in Turkey. Since joining Galatasaray on a season-long loan from Napoli, Osimhen has scored nine goals in his first 11 appearances for Okan Buruk’s club.
He is determined to stay in Istanbul for the rest of his loan, despite the fact that many big clubs want to make a transfer as early as this winter.
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Journalist Gianluca Di Marzio, says Osimhen has no interest in talking to other clubs at the moment. “He wants to use this season as an opportunity to let the Premier League clubs decide if they want to make an offer to Napoli,”
Di Marzio goes on to name Paris Saint-Germain as one of the interested clubs along with an unnamed team from Saudi Arabia. But a separate report from Italy suggests that Osimhen would jump at the chance to join Juventus.
The presence of former Napoli sporting director Cristiano Giuntoli at the Turin-based club is mentioned in a piece by Il Mattino. Giuntoli memorably brought Osimhen to Napoli from Ligue 1 side Lille in 2020 for a reported €75 million, and now he is “trying to snatch Osimhen” from his former club.
Not exactly what Napoli are hoping for!
The report goes on to claim that Juventus could activate a €75 million clause to sign the Nigerian goal machine at the end of the 2024/25 season.
Galatasaray tops the Süper Lig table over Fenerbahce, which is led by “The Special One” and he has a lot on his mind, as always.
Osimhen has certainly shown his quality in Turkey lately, although Fenerbahce manager Jose Mourinho has recently admitted to having a problem with the way Osimhen behaves on the pitch.
In an interview with HT Spor, Mourinho said: “Osimhen is a fantastic player. He’s a player that if I was at a club with the potential to pay 70 to 75 million, I would buy.”
He continued: “He’s a fantastic player [but] of course he comes in different circumstances, but in the end the circumstances don’t matter. What matters is that Galatasaray have an absolutely fantastic player.”
“I don’t have a problem with Victor. In fact, we have a very good relationship,” the Portuguese manager added. “But every time I play against him I talk to him because I don’t like the way he behaves, he dives too much.
“The last time we played, Roma against Napoli, we had this conversation. I said to him: ‘Look, you’re one of the two best African players – that’s you and [Mohamed] Salah’.
“Former Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto’o, George Weah, you can’t behave like that. He dives too much, that’s my problem with him. But after ten minutes we are good. We have a very good relationship.
“For the Turkish league it’s great and for Galatasaray it’s great too.”
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