Agent of Victor Osimhen blasts “fantasy” rumours linking striker with loan move
Roberto Calenda, agent of Napoli and Nigeria forward Victor Osimhen, recently came out to quash the rumours linking his client with loan moves away from Italy.
The 25-year-old has been touted to leave Napoli all summer, with PSG and Chelsea leading the race.
Osimhen has been recently linked with a loan move to Stamford Bridge as part of an agreement that would see Romelu Lukaku go the other way. Calenda, however, says it’s not happening.
“I read about ‘fantasy exchanges’ with Victor… as if he was a package to be delivered quickly. This package is the top scorer of the third Scudetto in the history of Napoli. Respect and stop fake news!”
Calenda, as quoted by Football London.
The Parisians have so far offered the 2022/23 Serie A champions multiple player swap offers to avoid meeting their price tag, but they have been rejected.
However, according to recent reports from Italy, as claimed by Football London, Napoli are willing to listen to offers with reduced price tags in the region of £84 million in order to ensure Osimhen doesn’t leave on a free, with his €12.82m-per-year contract at the Stadio Maradona expiring in June 2026.
Lukaku, on the other hand, spent the last two seasons on loan at Inter and then at Roma, putting up respectable numbers for an outcast. Both him and Antonio Conte are eager to reunite.
Anything is possible
If a loan move were to happen for Osimhen, it would not be the kind where a player is sent to a different club to get game minutes and evolve; the Nigerian is too big a star for that.
A loan move on paper would entail an obligation to buy him next summer, not unlike when PSG took Kylian Mbappé on loan from Monaco in the same transfer window in which they bought Neymar from Barcelona, which also allowed them to balance out their books.
And, with Napoli willing to listen to a reduced fee, any and all moves are possible.
