Lille sporting director Luis Campos is a transfer guru like no other and the man, who is credited with having unearthed over £500m worth of footballing talent during his time at Monaco and Lille, has revealed the effort it took him to finally get Victor Osimhen to play for Lille.
Luis Campos, one of the world’s top transfer chiefs is the man regarded to have brought Kylian Mbappe, Nicolas Pepe, James Rodriguez, Anthony Martial, Fabinho, Bernardo Silva and Benjamin Mendy to limelight at very young ages.
The 55-year-old transfer don, while speaking to Sky Sports in a chat monitored by Soccernet.ng, has now revealed the four-year journey he embarked on to get the 20-year-old Nigerian forward Osimhen, who has scored 7 goals in 10 games for Lille.
“I went to Lagos to see the U17 World Championships. After one match I wanted him. But his price was very expensive for a 17-year-old.
“I spoke to my CEO. I called him every night saying, ‘Please give me this player, he is amazing. In two years he will be one of the best in Europe’.
“In the end the player went to Wolfsburg. I went to Wolfsburg just to see him play. Sometimes he only played for five minutes, sometimes only two. I was crazy for him! Then he had a virus and had five or six months not playing and went to Charleroi in Belgium.
“Two months later I signed him. So itʼs a nice story. I lost the player but then got him back.
“If all is normal at the end of the season there will be a big move for him because he’s like a cat. You know, if you have a cat and give it a ball!
“Heʼs unbelievable. In the last 20 metres, he attacks every ball. Every ball. Like a cat.”