It was a clear of poor Chelsea that flipped ace striker Victor Osimhen into the net of rich Galatasaray, resulting in fans becoming frenzied about him in Turkey.
Osimhen was prepared to accept Al-Ahli’s contract worth €40 million (£33.7m/$44.3m) per season for four years.
The proposed deal also came with a release clause.
But Napoli wanted €85m (£71.6m/$94m) and Al-Ahli stopped €5m short, eventually turning to the significantly cheaper Ivan Toney instead.
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Chelsea are said to have had an understanding with Napoli, yet their lowball offer to Osimhen did not tempt the striker.
It was said to be €4 million as an initial annual salary, 10% of Al-Ahli’s proposal, but doubled if the Blues were to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
The inflated amount was still less than his current Napoli’s contract.
Thousands of Galatasaray supporters welcomed Victor Osimhen in Istanbul, despite it being in the wee hours of the morning, as he finalised his loan move from Napoli.
Osimhen’s move to Galatasaray is a last-minute surprise, as he was heavily linked to top clubs like Chelsea and PSG and Saudi Arabia’s Al Ahli before ultimately joining the Turkish side on a season-long loan.
The move comes after he was ostracised from the Napoli team following the signing of Romelu Lukaku, sparking concerns that he would be relegated to training with the reserves at least until the January transfer window.
However, Osimhen and his team successfully negotiated another deal, ensuring the striker remains active.
It remains a dry one-season loan to Galatasaray, with the Turkish side covering his wages of €10m.
The problem was that Napoli wanted a contract extension to 2027 to ensure they still had bargaining power over his sale, whereas Osimhen wanted a release clause allowing him to leave for well under the €130m currently written into their agreement.
He also demanded a break clause in January allowing him to leave early for one of 10 specified big clubs, with Galatasaray receiving a small fee if it was activated.
According to Sky Sport Italia, that agreement has now been reached with a few compromises.
Napoli will retain an option to automatically extend to June 2027 if they fail to sell the player by June 2025.
If that was activated, it would also have the same salary, but the release clause would be cut from €130 million to €80 million.
This is effectively what Napoli paid to sign the Nigeria international from Lille in 2020.
Osimhen joined Napoli from Lille in September 2020 for €79 million, scoring 76 goals with 18 assists in 133 games.
He underwent medical tests on Tuesday morning, in time for his registration in Galatasaray’s Europa League squad.
