During the 2023 Summer transfer window, Victor Osimhen was on the radar of many European teams like Manchester United, Chelsea, Bayern Munich.
Napoli striker Victor Osimhen, has revealed the difficulty he faced in turning down a substantial offer from Saudi Arabia during the summer transfer window, Soccernet.ng reports.
Earlier, Soccernet reported that Saudi Arabia Pro League side, Al Hilal, made a lucrative €200 million bid to Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis to lure the Nigerian forward to the Saudi Pro League.
Meanwhile, more report revealed that the Super Eagles talisman had agreed a verbal agreement with Al Hilal in moving away from the Diego Maradona Stadium.
Reflecting on the mega offer on the ‘Obi One Podcast’ with John Obi Mikel, Osimhen admitted that while Napoli wanted to keep him, the Saudi offer was hard to refuse.
“What was said is true. I have to be honest, I never thought about leaving last summer because Napoli wanted to keep me, but when the offer came from Saudi Arabia, a huge offer, it was hard to refuse. I spoke to Napoli and decided to stay,” Osimhen said.
“It was crazy, the more I said no, the more they increased the financial offer. It would have changed my life; they never gave up. But I said, no guys, I’m staying.”
Despite the increasing financial incentives, Osimhen, who piqued the interest of several European clubs last season, chose to stay with the Italian club.
He acknowledged that the decision was challenging but emphasized that he wanted to continue playing in Europe.
“Of course. I had talks in August, it was a huge decision for me to make. I spoke to Napoli, and we decided together to refuse.
“I didn’t want people to think I wanted to leave. It was a positive decision for my career. As much as you play football for money, there is also so much more to it.” he said.
Osimhen also mentioned his ambition to play in the Premier League, expressing his admiration for the league and revealing that he has jerseys from both Chelsea and Manchester United, given to him by his brother.
He added: “I don’t have a favourite PL team but I’ve got two jerseys from my brother: Chelsea and Man United”.
“Many friends of mine are Chelsea fans, few of them are Manchester United fans”.
“Premier League is the most appreciated league by every African player — it’s a huge league”.
The Napoli striker, who is currently recovering from an injury he picked while on duty for the Super Eagles team, is currently ruled out of Nigeria’s 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Lesotho and Zimbabwe.