Owner of Napoli Aurelio De Laurentis has declared that Nigerian goalscoring sensation and club record signing, Victor Osimhen is not unsellable.
Laurentis made this shocking disclosure during a lenghty press conference where he spoke on recent development at the club including the sacking of former coach Gennaro Gattuso and the hiring of new manager, Luciano Spalletti.
The club patron who broke his silence over Napoli’s failure to secure a top four finish last season says nobody at the Serie A club is unsellable for the right proposal while hinting he shouldn’t have approved the signing of some players last season.
Laurentis reveals he is looking to get Napoli back on track financially to balance the book hence no player, including Osimhen whom Napoli paid a record fee of will be unsellable if the price is right.
“Nobody is unsellable if the appropriate proposal comes along. Napoli’s objectives for this season are to balance the books and get back into the Champions League.
“Selling one player might not be enough, we’d need to sell those who vastly increased the wage bill. I probably shouldn’t have made a couple of signings, but I got over-excited and invested too much to lock myself down to a five-year contract that we cannot respect.
“We have to recognise that the budget has to be revised, or Napoli could go bankrupt. If you want to get Napoli back on track, you must cut excessive spending.”
It would be recalled that Gattuso orchestrated Osimhen’s signing from French Ligue 1 side Lille for a club record fee of €70million in the previous season.
However, Osimhen could not save Gattuso from the sack following an injury-plagued season that saw him finished with just 10 goals in 24 Serie A appearances in his first season while Napoli also missed the Champions League slot following a 2-4 home loss to Juventus on the last day of the season.
Osimhen will be playing in his second season in the Italian topflight under new manager Spalletti who has promised to help the 22-year old forward improve his game.