If there’s one thing Napoli are very proud about, it’s their ability to keep players at the club, warding off competition such as Newcastle United.
Aurelio De Laurentiis has never let anyone forget he once turned down more than €100m for Kalidou Koulibaly, only to sell him to Chelsea a few years later for €38m.
The next on this list appears to be Victor Osimhen, who has long been seen as one of the more talented strikers in Europe, especially after some good seasons at Lille and the south of Italy.
Following PIF’s acquisition of Newcastle, we saw stories emerge in Italy that an attempt had been made to sign the Nigeria international late last January.
There was no denying Eddie Howe needed a new striker to help out Chris Wood, but he never got that player, having to wait until this summer for the club to sign Alexander Isak from Real Sociedad.
Still, an attempt to sign Osimhen was allegedly made, with Newcastle reportedly putting forward around €100m for the striker to try and lure him to the Premier League.
Corriere dello Sport recall all this on Tuesday, and reveal what Napoli did when the St James’ Park came forward with that money.
They state that ‘when Newcastle, last January, launched messages that were anything but subliminal, and let [Napoli] see €100m ready to close the deal, Napoli pretended nothing happened, kept the wealth of their jewel and thought to build the future around him’.
This is exactly what they have done, with the striker shining under Luciano Spalletti this season, as he has scored nine goals and assisted another two in 12 appearances in all competitions this season.
