Duro Ikhazuagbe

A confidant of Nigeria and Galatasaray top striker, Victor Osimhen, has dismissed Sunday Oliseh’s social media claims that the former Napoli star was snubbed by top European club sides this summer transfer window.

Oliseh who is a FIFA Technical Study Group member and Nigerian football legend, had in a YouTubepost on Friday morning claimed that Napoli’s €75million release clause and Osimhen’s salary demand of not less than €15million annually were considered too exorbitant by most English Premiership clubs, hence they  looked elsewhere this summer.

But Osimhen’s confidant who spoke with THISDAY on condition of anonymity at the weekend, insisted that Oliseh should not talk about what he did not know anything about as a respected former captain of the Super Eagles.

“Let me put the facts straight. Osimhen was wanted by top clubs in the Premier League like Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal. In the case of Manchester United, Osimhen was not bothered wether they were going to play in the Champions League or Europe  or not. He considered Manchester United a big club in Europe. They came for him twice. Manchester United wanted to pay him annual salary of €8million but Osimhen insisted that he was not going to come down from the €12million he was currently earning to €8million. That was why the deal failed,” began the top football source who has been with the player right from his Golden Eaglets days.

He stressed that Osimhen insisted that there was no reason why he should drop to €8million when Manchester United were not going to pay any agent fee as the deal was between the club and his lawyer. “Osimhen no longer have an agent. His lawyer handles his transactions. It didn’t make sense to him and so  was not desperate about it.”

The source further listed Arsenal and Chelsea as two other Premier League clubs that also got in touch with him. “Oliseh should go and ask John Obi Mikel wether Chelsea spoke with Osimhen or not.”

“Is Juventus not a big European club? If Oliseh is saying no big club came for Osimhen, was he there when the player and Juventus were in back and forth discussions? Juventus were willing to meet Napoli’s asking fee of €75million.

They also agreed to pay Osimhen €18million annual salary. All these discussions were ongoing while  Juventus were taking part in the FIFA  Club World Cup. But Napoli were not willing to enter into negotiation with any Italian Serie A rival. 

“Besides, Osimhen who is a man of his words, wanted to honour his promise to Galatasaray President whom he told since January that if they (Galatasaray) will be able to meet up with his release clause of €75million, he was going to  leave Napoli to join them on permanent deal,” stressed the Osimhen confidant.

He also said that money was not the only consideration for Osimhen’s choice of club to go to after leaving Napoli.

“If it was for money, Osimhen would have accepted the offer of $160million total salary package from Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal. He knew that at 26 years, age was still on his side and should be playing top football competitions like the UEFA Champions League. Besides, he’s loved and feels at home at Galatasaray. This was the overriding reason for pitching his tenth with the Istanbul club where he accepted only the €15million annual salary and his image right,” the top source concluded.

Oliseh had in that YouTube post given a breakdown of €187million as the total cost of hiring Osimhen by Galatasaray over a period of four years.

Osimhen was absent from Galatasaray’s opening Turkish Super Lig fixture against Gaziantep which the Istanbul giants won 3-0 with Baris Yilmaz involved in all the three goals. He scored the opener and the third goal from the penalty spot and assisted Eren Elmali for the second. Osimhen is expected to be available for Galatasaray’s next fixture against former Ahmed Musa’s Fatih Karagumruk at Rams Park.

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