Osimhen in €7m transfer DISASTER

Robin Bairner

• 18 Dec 2024 02:59 CST
• 3 min read

Victor Osimhen is one of the most exciting names in the mix as the January transfer window approaches, with the on-loan Galatasaray striker tipped for a big-money move.

Osimhen himself may have indicated that he is happy in Turkey after a shock loan move from Napoli in the summer, but rumours are linking him to a number of major clubs.

PSG are thought to be looking at the Nigeria international forward again as they continue to struggle for offensive efficiency in attack, while Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United are all in need of a centre-forward and are linked with the striker.

STATS

Victor Osimhen

F (C)

Galatasaray

Victor Osimhen

F (C)

Galatasaray

All Tournaments

2024/25

• 14

  Games

• 9

  Goals

• 4

  Assists

View all stats

Osimhen was valued by Napoli at €120 million in the summer transfer window, and while his price tag has now dropped to €81m – and will drop further to €75m in the summer – he is set to one of the most expensive players of 2025.

Surely the 25-year-old is an easy player to make a profit from? Not necessarily, as the case of Lille shows.

How to squander Osimhen fortune

Lille sold Osimhen to Napoli in the summer of 2020 for €70m, yet former president Olivier Letang revealed on L’Equipe du Soir that the club only ever saw €7m of that lavish price.

“Lille made a lot more money from the sales of Carlos Baleba to Brighton and Amadou Onana to Everton,” Letang claimed, with these transfers worth €30m and €40m respectively.

“There were no kickbacks, commissions and intermediaries.”

Letang also deducted the purchase of four Napoli players for €20m – he claims “they had a value of €0” – and removed fees taken by “all the intermediaries, the capital gains and commissions” to get his figure of just €7m.

The owner of Lille at the time was Gerard Lopez, with investigations in the French and Italian courts ongoing into certain transactions that took place within the club from that era.