I Had No Choice!” – Osimhen Reveals He Was Forced To Join Napoli While His Father Lay Dying

Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen has revealed that his 2020 transfer from Lille to Napoli was completed without his full consent, alleging that agents and club officials pressured him into signing the deal while his father was gravely ill.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶

According to a leaked testimony to Italy’s Guardia di Finanza, published by La Repubblica, Osimhen claimed he was excluded from key contract discussions and never received a draft of the agreement before it was finalized. The negotiations were reportedly driven by Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis and Lille executives.

Osimhen’s €70 million transfer was one of the most high-profile deals of the 2020 summer window, but it has since become the focus of a financial investigation in Italy over alleged false accounting.

“My former agent, Jean Gerard, had shown serious interest from Napoli, but he only cared about my transfer, not my father’s condition,” Osimhen was quoted as saying by Punch.

“At that time, I wasn’t thinking about football at all. I just wanted to know how my dad was doing.”

The 25-year-old striker recounted being summoned to a meeting in Nice with Lille president Gerard Lopez and sporting director Luis Campos, where he was informed that the transfer had already been agreed upon.

“They told me I should move to Napoli because an agreement was already in place and, due to the pandemic, it was a good deal for Lille. But I knew nothing about it,” he said.

Tragically, Osimhen revealed that his father passed away during the negotiations, leaving him devastated.

“I was extremely angry with Lille and my agent because I didn’t get to see my father before he died. They even told me I had to leave for Naples the next day, without realizing he had passed,” he recounted.

Osimhen also claimed he never saw the contract before signing it.

“He asked if I had read the contract, but I hadn’t received anything,” he added.

Following the ordeal, Osimhen terminated his relationship with his then-agent and hired William D’Avila, who eventually completed the transfer alongside Napoli’s Maurizio Micheli and other officials in July 2020.

Italian prosecutors are currently investigating both clubs over suspicions that Napoli and Lille inflated the values of several youth players included in the deal to mask the true cost of the transfer.

Three players — Luigi Liguori, Claudio Manzi, and Ciro Palmieri — were officially part of the transaction but never played for Lille, further deepening concerns over the legitimacy of the deal.

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