While Napoli and Super Eagles’ striker, Victor Osimhen, has agreed to join Turkish club Galatasaray on a permanent deal, reports in Italy confirm that his home Napoli club have turned down an improved bid from the Turkish giants with whom spent the 2024-25 season on loan in Istanbul.
News of a concluded deal was shared by Nigerian sports journalist, Buchi Laba, who is known to be close to the Super Eagles forward.
There still needs to be an agreement between Napoli and Galatasaray, however.
But in updates from Sky Sport Italia, Napoli have turned down Galatasaray’s opening bid of €60m in his contract.
Napoli are pushing for a higher fee, close to the €75m release clause in Osimhen’s contract.
Napoli are expected to sell Osimhen this summer.
The Nigeria international has been on the club’s books since the summer of 2020, but has been pushing for a move away from the Partenopei for the last year.
Osimhen saw a permanent move away from Napoli fall through in spectacular fashion on deadline day of the summer transfer window in 2024, which led to his joining Galatasaray on loan for the 2024-25 season. There, he provided 37 goals and eight assists from 41 appearances across all competitions.
Now, with a €75m release clause in his contract, which is valid for teams outside of Italy, Osimhen looks set to move on in the near future.
According to reports earlier on Monday, Osimhen has an agreement in place with Galatasaray over a three-year contract with an option for an additional 12 months.
According to Laba, Osimhen has finally said “yes” to leaving Napoli for Galatasaray after weeks of speculation about his future.
In a post on X, Laba wrote:
“Exclusive: Victor James Osimhen says YES to Galatasaray and wants to continue with the Turkish team.
“For weeks, Napoli has been begging Victor Osimhen to remain with them.
“However, Osimhen has made it very clear that he wants to leave the Italian club.
“Galatasaray and Napoli are now negotiating the payment of his release clause.”
Victor Osimhen joined Napoli from Lille in 2020 and became one of their top players, helping the club win the Serie A title for the first time in 33 years.
His performances attracted interest from big European clubs, but Galatasaray has now taken the lead in securing his signature.
The Turkish club is hoping to finalise negotiations soon so Osimhen can join them for pre-season training and prepare ahead of the new league campaign.
More updates about the deal, including the transfer fee and personal terms, are expected to be released in the coming days.
The Nigerian striker will feature for the Turkish side at next season’s UEFA Champions League tournament.
