ROME (AP) — When Victor Osimhen led Napoli to its first Serie A title in more than three decades, he began to feel the adoration once reserved only for Diego Maradona in the southern city.
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That was little more than a year ago.
Now, Osimhen is locked in limbo with Napoli, which was unable to find a suitable buyer for the high-scoring Nigeria striker in the transfer window that closed across Europe’s five biggest leagues on Friday.
Having assumed that he would have landed with a new club by now, Osimhen has been left off Napoli’s squad in recent weeks and has not been training with the club.
Unless a Saudi Arabian club comes up with an offer, the reigning African player of the year might be left in this undesirable position for months — until the next transfer window opens in January.
Both sides are to blame.
Napoli reportedly received big offers for Osimhen a year ago but club president Aurelio De Laurentiis encouraged him to stay and began negotiating a contract extension that eventually more than doubled his salary.
Then last September, an irate Osimhen deleted almost all pictures of himself in Napoli’s shirt from his social media accounts after the club posted a mocking video of him online. The video appeared to make fun of Osimhen’s penalty-taking skills after he missed a spot kick in a draw at Bologna.
Source: APNews