The mocking video led to a conflict between Victor Osimhen and Napoli

One of the most valuable football players in the world, Victor Osimhen, is at the center of a scandal. The Nigerian’s representatives have threatened to sue his club Napoli for publishing a strange video mocking the forward’s penalty miss. The conflict seems capable of accelerating Osimhen’s separation from the Italian club, with which he has already refused to renew his contract.

The official threat of the agent of Napoli forward Roberto Calenda to sue the Italian club in order to “protect” the athlete has become one of the main news for leading sports media resources. According to Kalenda, he caused him “serious harm” with a video posted on TikTok and later deleted. Using added phrases uttered by a squeaky voice, it satirizes a key episode from Sunday’s match of the fifth round of the Italian championship: in which Napoli played away to a 0-0 draw with Bologna. This is a penalty missed by Osimhen in the middle of the second half: the player shot wide of the goal. A little later the striker was replaced. Roberto Calenda said that he considers the appearance of such videos “unacceptable.”

The reputation of Victor Osimhen added to the scandal. In 2020, Napoli acquired the Nigerian from Lille for a club record amount, exceeding €80 million including bonuses. However, since then, Osimhen has managed to significantly increase his value. The breakthrough was facilitated by his brilliant last season. Napoli won the championship title there, and the 24-year-old Nigerian made a huge contribution to this success. In 32 championship matches played, he scored 26 goals.

On Tuesday, Transfermarkt published its latest ranking of the most expensive football players in the world. In it, Victor Osimhen’s value was estimated at €120 million. He shares fourth to sixth place in the classification with Jude Bellingham from Real Madrid and Bukayo Saka from Arsenal, behind only Kylian Mbappe from PSG, Erling Haaland from Manchester City and teammate Bellingham to Vinicius.

At the same time, it is obvious that Victor Osimhen’s relationship with Napoli has deteriorated greatly compared to the previous season. The penalty video was not the first, made in a similar manner, that the club dedicated to the Nigerian. Before this, the specialists in charge of social networks managed to present the athlete in the form of a coconut. Various sources claim that Osimhen also has a conflict with the new head coach of Napoli, Rudi Garcia, who came to replace Luciano Spalletti, who recently headed the Italian national team. This version can be confirmed by the player’s behavior during the substitution in the match with Bologna: when he went to the bench, he was clearly dissatisfied with something and expressed it to Garcia in a raised voice. After the release of the sensational story on TikTok, Victor Osimhen immediately deleted all photographs related to Napoli from his Instagram page (owned by Meta, whose activities are banned in Russia as extremist). Photos related, for example, to the Nigerian national team remained on it.

Some publications that covered the scandal, such as The Guardian, have no doubt that it will accelerate Victor Osimhen’s separation from the Neapolitans. It was believed that it could well happen in the summer. It was known that several grandees were interested in Osimhen and had enormous financial resources that would allow a deal of this scale to be carried out. According to the BBC, he was especially closely watched by Manchester United. However, Victor Osimhen still hasn’t moved anywhere. Meanwhile, he made it clear that he does not want to commit his future to Napoli, refusing to renew his contract with the club in advance. The Nigerian’s current agreement with him expires in 2025.

Alexey Dospehov