Osimhen loan move not entirely football related – Hamsik

Former Napoli midfielder Marek Hamsik has suggested that Victor Osimhen’s loan move from the club to Galatasaray is not an entirely football-related transfer, adding that he feels sorry the Nigeria international left Diego Armando Maradona Stadium,.

Osimhen joined Galatasaray on a season-long loan after failed moves to Chelsea and Saudi giants Al Ahli on transfer deadline day.

The loan deal is without an option to buy, while the 25-year-old is also said to have signed a contract extension with Napoli until 2027.

The 25-year-old was frozen out of Napoli’s squad after his failed transfer, with the Galatasaray move offering him a route back to first-team football.

In place of Osimhen, Napoli secured the services of Romelo Lukaku, and Hamsik believes the club’s transfer dealings have been convincing.

“I’m sorry Osimhen left, but it’s probably not entirely related to football,” he said.

“I am not involved in this, and Napoli signed a valuable replacement. Lukaku is a top striker and can easily score 20 goals.”

Osimhen signed a contract extension with the Italian club last December through 2026 with a reported release clause of €130m.

Osimhen was the subject of considerable transfer interest from around Europe this summer, but Chelsea’s and Paris Saint-Germain’s attempts to sign the forward fell through.

The player was also heavily linked with Al Ahli, with sources telling ESPN that Napoli had accepted an €80m offer from the Saudi Pro League side, but Osimhen expressed doubts about leaving European football.

Napoli also requested an additional €5m, which infuriated the Saudi Arabians.

I am Still In Charge As Super Eagles Interim Coach Says Eguavoen

Technical Director of the Nigeria Football Federation, Austin Eguavoen, has denied stepping down as the interim coach of the Super Eagles after the two 2025 AFCON qualifiers against the Benin Republic and Rwanda.

Eguavoen was appointed by the NFF to take charge of the two games following the inability of the federation to secure the services of German coach, Bruno Labbadia, over what they call stringent German tax laws.

“In the event, Technical Director of Nigeria Football Federation, Coach Augustine Eguavoen, will now take charge of the Super Eagles for the upcoming 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Benin Republic (Uyo, September 7) and Rwanda (Kigali, September 10),” the statement announcing his appointment had partly read.

The 59-year-old led Nigeria to a convincing 3-0 win over the Benin Republic in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, last Saturday before being held to a goaless draw in the second game of the series by Rwanda on Tuesday.

After Tuesday’s goaless draw in Kigali, Eguavoen was said to have stepped down as interim coach but the gaffer has denied the reports ahead of next month’s AFCON qualifiers double header against Libya.

“It’s quite unfortunate that people just trigger something that is not correct. And the situation we are in now, we don’t need negative stories,” Eguavoen said on arrival at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja in a media chat.

“I only talked about sitting down with the hierarchy of the federation after these two games and we will see how to go about prosecuting the next games.

“But when I saw that story I was worried. Whatever people are reading out there aren’t correct. I’m still very much in charge. I’m the Technical Director of the NFF, saddled with the responsibility of taking the Super Eagles at this moment,” he said.

*Beyond The Glitters: Primate Ayodele’s Prophetic Advice To Victor Osimhen In 2023

Nigerian super footballer, Victor Osimhen has no doubt had a very successful career so far, he has been regarded as the king of football especially at his club in Napoli.

Osimhen’s career has continued to grow bigger, with notable awards like African Footballer of the Year, confirming his status as one of Nigeria’s greatest football exports.

2023 marked the biggest year of Victor Osimhen’s career in Napoli and Africa but in the midst of the glitters that came in the form of international awards and trophies, there was Primate Ayodele’s prophecy foretelling an unpleasant moment for the player of the moment in 2023.

It didn’t make so much sense that someone with such success in his career would come across any challenge regarding his football career anytime soon but Primate Ayodele spoke about him facing challenges and revealing that the challenges he would face will make him leave his club, Napoli.

He warned that there will be ups and downs for Victor Osimhen if he remains in Napoli.

These were his words,

‘’Osimhen will leave his club because he will face several challenges and he must pray that he can still have the ability to score, he must look at it properly. I will tell Osimhen to leave Napoli to the next place so that things can change for him. If he still stays in Napoli, there will be ups and down.’’

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One year after Osimhen’s glittering career in Napoli, he suddenly went from a hero status to becoming unwanted at his club not because of his performances but for some management issues.

The last two weeks have been frustrating for Victor Osimhen; He had offers to move to Chelsea FC but was required to take a pay cut. Fortunately, Al Ahli FC in Saudi Arabia offered to sign him for a huge amount of money but somehow, his club reneged on their agreement and the deal was off. It would have been a massive turnaround for Osimhen’s career but the deal was frustrated. At the time the Al Ahli’s deal got closed, Chelsea FC had already decided not to proceed with their deal too.

The major embarrassing thing was that Osimhen had already been left out from Napoli’s squad, with his shirt number reportedly given to another player, He will have to wait till January before stepping on the field again if he remained at Napoli.

In the end, He had to settle for a loan deal with Galatasaray S.K till January when he will be able to move to his desired club again.

No doubt, Osimhen’s travails in the last few days are exactly a representation of Primate Ayodele’s prophetic warnings.