Neither Saudi Arabia, the Premier League, nor Serie A! As things stand now, Victor Osimhen won’t be playing football anywhere until January, as all attempts to leave Napoli in the recently concluded transfer window have failed! The Nigerian has thus become not only the biggest loser of the June transfer market but also a victim of megalomaniac demands—both from the club’s owner, Aurelio De Laurentiis, and his agent, Roberto Calenda. In modern sports, where others often have more control than the athletes themselves, the biggest price is often paid by the innocent. However, it might be worth questioning who Africa’s best footballer has entrusted with managing his career. As a result, instead of moving to a new environment with guaranteed playing time, he’ll remain at the “Diego Armando Maradona” stadium—but won’t step onto the pitch. The stands are a possibility, but the field is out of the question. Unless some club from another country, where the transfer window is still open steps up with an offer.BREAKING: Chelsea made Napoli striker Victor Osimhen their final offer this evening 🚨They have still not heard back with 20 minutes to deadline so now resigned to deal being off 🔵 pic.twitter.com/WzM7Q8l2uo— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) August 30, 2024 Osimhen signed a new contract with Napoli late last year, worth 11 million per season, and now he is bound by those papers—in more ways than one. Yes, he received a raise, but President De Laurentiis also raised his release clause to an unsettling 130 million. To be clear, Victor is a fantastic striker, but no sane person on earth would pay that amount for anyone except Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi. There were calls from Paris Saint-Germain, but even Nasser Al-Khelaifi wasn’t willing to spend that much on Osimhen, who slowly ran out of time as current market came to a close, leaving him with only two options—one from the Middle East and the other from the UK. Both slipped through his fingers.The Saudis win the race for Osimhen?!Even before Romelu Lukaku arrived at Napoli, it was clear that Victor wasn’t in new coach Antonio Conte’s plans. The official announcement of the deal with the Belgian forced the club’s management to seek a solution for their most effective player of the past few seasons. Salvation appeared in Saudi Arabia, where Al Ahli genuinely wanted Osimhen, and the player had agreed to terms that were reportedly astronomical—up to 40 million annually. The snag came when negotiations between the clubs began. And De Laurentiis, in such situations—and not just these—acts like a man whose nerve cells aren’t functioning properly. Of course, he realized he couldn’t get 130 million, so he lowered his demands. But when a 65 million offer arrived from Jeddah, he got greedy and demanded—brace yourselves—that they round it up to 70 million. So, the difference was only 5 million.##EDITORS_CHOICE##A year or two ago, perhaps people with less experience in running clubs or handling transfers might have given in, but now even the Arabs have learned how business works. They refused the self-serving De Laurentiis, informed Osimhen and his agent why the transfer fell through, and kept Ivan Toney on standby the whole time. They told him he was a backup option if the primary target fell through, and around noon on Friday, they told him to undergo medical exams before officially signing him for around 45 million in compensation to Brentford and 18 million in wages.Victor Osimhen once cleaned gutters and fetched water for as little as 50 pence 🤯 pic.twitter.com/vRh45xALqE— ESPN Africa (@ESPNAfrica) August 30, 2024 Osimhen was literally furious. The reason, of course, was the 5 million that De Laurentiis had demanded. He decided to play hardball and refused to negotiate. If Napoli didn’t respect him, he wouldn’t respect the club either. Faced with only one option and the final 12 hours of the transfer window, negotiations began with Chelsea, who had earlier sent Romelu Lukaku to Conte. Napoli was confident they would reach an agreement with the English side, especially since Raheem Sterling was already on his way to Arsenal when suddenly…The name is Toney. Ivan Toney.#WelcomeToney pic.twitter.com/rBlSxxFfKI— Al-Ahli Saudi Club (@ALAHLI_FCEN) August 31, 2024 Victor Osimhen hit back. Now, Chelsea and Napoli had agreed on the transfer fee, but the Nigerian decided to raise his demands. The London delegation submitted five offers to Osimhen, all of which he rejected because none came close to his earnings in Italy. Around 10 p.m., the English club made a package where Osimhen would earn 4 million per season as a base salary, plus another 4 million in bonuses (2 million if the Blues qualified for the Champions League and another 2 million based on the number of matches and goals). All totaled, it was nowhere near the 11 million he earns at Napoli. And he said “no.”LIVE BLOG: Transfer window is now CLOSED!Meanwhile, his agent Roberto Calenda believes that neither the current nor any potential future employers respect Osimhen enough. He constantly claims that Osimhen is the best footballer in Africa, that he was eighth in the last Ballon d’Or voting, and that he deserves more… And he might be right because Marc Cucurella earns more at Stamford Bridge (around 10 million) than what was offered to Osimhen. That’s why this chaos resulted in Victor Osimhen being kept in a ’golden cage’. Sure, he’s surrounded by millions, but he’s trapped football-wise. The relationship with Napoli is completely broken, and neither De Laurentiis nor Conte is considering bringing him back into the competitive fold—especially now that they have Lukaku.SERIE A – MATCHDAY 3FridayVenezia – Torino 0-1 (0-0)/Coco 86/Inter – Atalanta 4-0 (3-0)/Djimsiti 3 og, Barella 10, Thuram 47, 56/Saturday19:30: (1.70) Bologna (3.70) Empoli (6.00)19:30: (2.30) Lecce (3.20) Cagliari (3.30)21:45: (2.85) Lazio (3.35) Milan (2.50)21:45: (1.50) Napoli (4.30) Parma (6.50)Sunday19:30: (2.05) Genoa (3.30) Verona (3.80)19:30: (1.70) Fiorentina (3.60) Monza (5.40)21:45: (1.80) Juventus (3.50) Roma (4.70)21:45: (2.10) Udinese (3.35) Como (3.60)***odds are subject to change***