The president of Napoli, Aurelio De Laurentiis, has claimed that the club is close to extending the contract of Nigerian striker, Victor Osimhen.
Victor Osimhen has been the club’s best striker in the last 18 months and gained the attention of other European clubs after scoring 26 goals and providing five assists to help Napoli win their first Scudetto in 33 years last season.
After the 2022-2023 season, Napoli entered into contract extension negotiations with the 24-year-old Nigerian striker but the negotiations dragged longer than expected.
Then, reports claimed that the representatives of Napoli and Osimhen had failed to agree on a new contract extension because of a disputed release clause the club wanted to insert in the contract and the salary Osimhen’s team was asking for.
Afterwards, De Laurentiis claimed that Napoli still has the upper hand since Osimhen has until June 30, 2025, before his current contract expires.
The deadlock opened the door for more suitors to line up for his signature and ahead of the January transfer window, clubs like Arsenal and Chelsea are already considering making a move.
To make it better for Osimhen’s suitors, transfer expert Fabrizio Romano claimed recently that Napoli and Victor Osimhen are not close to signing a new deal.
With this revelation, the attention of most football enthusiasts was fixated on whether any club in Europe was ready to pay Napoli’s £150 million asking price for the Nigeria international.
But a slight twist to the saga arose on Saturday when Aurelio De Laurentiis told reporters that the club and Osimhen are on the verge of agreeing on the lingering contract extension deal.
The Napoli president was quoted as saying: “With Osimhen, we are about to sign the contract that was pending this summer.”
TrackNews Media gathered that the new deal will come with about £130 million release clause which means that it would be a bit difficult for a European club to sign him.
If Osimhen signs the new deal, before the January transfer window, he might not be able to leave the club in January.
