Victor Osimhen has signed a new deal with Napoli that will be valid until the summer 2026. The Italian club's president, Aurelio De Laurentiis, announced the deal by posting a picture with the Nigerian star on his social media channels. After months of talks, Osimhen has finally signed a new deal with the Azzurri, that will also include a release clause of around $143 million.
Victor & Napoli together until 2026 💙 pic.twitter.com/Gs0WVckkBw
— Official SSC Napoli (@sscnapoli) December 23, 2023
Osimhen arrived at Napoli from Lille in the summer 2020 for around €70 million and since then scored 67 goals in 117 games with Napoli, and, most importantly, led to the team to the 2022-23 Scudetto with an MVP season. His goals and performances created a lot of expectations and many of Europe's top clubs kept a close eye on the Nigerian star, who became an idol in Naples after winning the title. In the summer of 2023, Osimhen turned down a bid coming from Saudi Arabia as he committed to continue playing in Europe, at least for the time being.
De Laurentiis understood that he needed to start the conversations about a new deal with Osimhen, but things didn't go as smoothly as expected amidst a bizarre scandal in September when the agent of the player responded publicly to a TikTok post from the club that the striker was considering taking legal action as a result of being mocked after missing a penalty against Bologna.
In that moment it seemed that talks about a new deal with Napoli were stalling, but soon the club and the player's camp started to talk again about the new contract, that was signed today and will also include a release clause, unlike the previous deal. For the European clubs that might interested to sign Osimhen from next summer, the new deal doesn't drastically changes his future. In fact, the release clause that is now in the new contract give at least a chance for the clubs to sign the player without dealing with Napoli's president De Laurentiis, who last summer demanded at least $200 million to let Osimhen leave.
The future of Osimhen is still in doubt as many European clubs might be interested to sign him next summer, and a new deal doesn't really change his chances of leaving Napoli in the future. However, the new deal can let the Napoli fans breath a bit as they can enjoy their idol without worrying too much about a possible departure in January.
