PROSECUTORS QUESTION NAPOLI PRESIDENT ABOUT TRANSFER OF VICTOR OSIMHEN

Earlier this week, prosecutors confronted Aurelio De Laurentiis, the president of Napoli, over Victor Osimhen’s transfer from Lille, a team in French Ligue 1.
On Wednesday, April 3, President De Laurentiis and his attorney, Fabio Fulgeri, visited the FIGC prosecutor’s office in Rome. Giuseppe Cascini, the deputy prosecutor, is said to have questioned the club president for ninety minutes over the agreement that brought Victor Osimhen to the team in 2021.

Napoli allegedly paid Lille €76,356,819 in that same year in order to recruit Osimhen. As part of Osimhen’s contract, four additional players that transferred from the Italian team to the French club were also included in the sum.

According to reports, the other players in the agreement were valued at 20 million euros. The breakdown goes as follows: Ciro Palmieri was assessed at €7,026,349, Orestis Karnez at €5,128,205, Luigi Liguori at €4,071,247, and Claudio Manzi at €4,021,762.

The Napoli president is facing legal action since prosecutors claim that the players added to Victor Osimhen’s contract were not worth the price. The investigators said that the Italian Serie A champions exaggerated the value of their players to help their finances.

According to the Italian publication Il Messaggero, if Napoli is found guilty of exaggerating the actual value of the aforementioned players, they may face a points reduction or a punishment.

“There are three possible paths, a new acquittal, a fine, or a slight penalty in the rankings (league table),” the report claimed.

Note that Victor Osimhen is expected to leave Napoli this summer despite signing a contract extension with the club in December 2023, which comes with a release clause worth about €130 million.