Nigeria’s Osimhen joins Napoli for up to 80 million euros

Victor Osimhen has signed for Napoli after the Serie A side splashed out a club record fee of up to 80 million euros ($94.6 million) to sign the Nigeria forward from French outfit Lille.

A source from Lille who was familiar with the transfer had told AFP that the Ligue 1 team would receive 70 million euros with add-ons potentially worth 10 million euros.

That figure was then confirmed by Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis to the Gazzetta dello Sport, who also report the movie mogul as saying that Osimhen had signed a five-year deal with the Italian club.

“It’s 70 million euros to be paid over five years and 10 million euros of bonuses according to certain results,” the Gazzetta reported De Laurentiis as saying.

“His contract will begin at four million euros a year and will progressively increase to 4.5 million euros by the end of the contract.”

The total fee would make Osimhen, 21, one of the most expensive players in Serie A history, and is almost double Napoli’s previous club record of around 40 million euros paid for Gonzalo Higuain in 2013 and Hirving Lozano last year.

His move to Napoli had been widely reported for weeks, but De Laurentiis told Gazzetta that the transfer had been held up by Osimhen firing his two agents and hiring a new one.

Osimhen scored 18 times last season and was one of the revelations of France’s curtailed campaign with 13 Ligue 1 goals as Lille finished fourth.

The transfer will see Lille again make a huge profit for a player after taking £72 million off Premier League team Arsenal for Nicolas Pepe, with Osimhen arriving at the club in northern France for 12 million euros from Belgian club Charleroi last summer.

Napoli go into their final match of the season against Lazio knowing they will finish seventh in Serie A. They have qualified for the group stage of the Europa League by virtue of winning the Italian Cup.