Napoli play down Osimhen row

Victor Osimhen has fallen out with his club, Napoli. One of the club's social media managers had the bright idea of posting a video on TikTok mocking the Nigerian for missing a penalty. The video was taken down straight away, but the damage was already done. Victor Osimhen even unfollowed his club on social media. Worse still, his agent threatened to take the Italian club to court.

Despite the tense situation, the striker started against Udinese on Wednesday 27 September. And the Nigerian marksman gave his club a fine response by playing his part in the rout of Udinese (4-1). The Super Eagle scored Napoli's second goal (39th minute). Osimhen made a point of ignoring and glaring at his coach, Rudi Garcia, as he celebrated. After the game, the French coach tried to calm things down. He said: "Nobody wanted to cause any harm, either with the video or with Victor on social media. These are also instinctive reactions, you can understand that. On social media (regarding the deleted photos of him in the Napoli shirt on his Instagram account), he does what he wants, but I can assure you that he loves this shirt".

The story has spread well beyond Italy. Some Spanish media have linked the player with Real Madrid. But the picture is totally unclear. In the meantime, Napoli spoke publicly on the matter for the first time on Thursday 28 September. "To avoid any exploitation of the issue, Napoli state that they never wanted to offend or mock Victor Osimhen, the club's technical asset. As proof, during the summer training camp, the club firmly rejected every offer received for the striker's transfer abroad. It is a fact that on social media, particularly TikTok, the expressive language has always been used with lightness and creativity, without any intention of mockery or derision in Osimhen's case. In any event, if Victor felt any offence was directed at him, it had nothing to do with any intention on the part of the club".