Victor Osimhen and the Satire by Napoli FC

Napoli FC, champions of the Italian Football League, have started this season poorly, with new coach, Rudi Garcia, striving to assert his ideas on his new team. Victor Osimhen, their star striker is in the middle of a storm! They are currently 5th on the Italian Football League table, having drawn two, won three and lost one match. Goals have been in short supply!

Napoli FC 2023/24 Italian Football League

Last weekend, Napoli FC striker, Victor Osimhen missed a penalty kick, during their match against Bologna FC. The match ended a goalless draw to continue Napoli’s underwhelming start to the 2023/23 football season. He was substituted later in the match by Rudi Garcia and Osimhen was not pleased, but this was later resolved between him and the rest of the team.

Later, Napoli FC released a video on their TikTok account which appeared to cast aspersion on Osimhen and created more chaos than the intended fun. Osimhen, deleted all Napoli-related images from his social media handles, whilst his agent threatened legal action against Napoli FC. Victor Osimhen did not derive any benefit from missing that penalty, but fell short when his team needed him most!

Napoli TikTok Video

On the 29^th September 2023, Napoli FC, responded to the reactions the TikTok video had generated in these words;

“Calcio Napoli, wishing to avoid any exploitation of the issue, point out that we never wanted to offend or mock Victor Osimhen, who is a treasure of this club”. “As proof of that, during the summer training retreat, the Club firmly rebuffed every offer that was received for the striker’s transfer abroad”.

“Social media, in particular TikTok, has always used an expressive form of language with a light heart and creativity, without wanting to, as in the case with Osimhen as the protagonist, have any intention of insult or derision”. “In any case, if Victor perceived any offence towards him, this was not what the club intended”.

Reacting to the statement by Napoli FC, sports journalist, Ben Jacobs said on his Twitter(X) handle, @JacobsBen

‘105 words…and yet not one of them is ‘sorry’. If anything this is worse than saying nothing’.

Italian sports journalist, Marika Fruscio, had earlier expressed her contrary opinion on her X handle, @marikafruscio10, but doused the tension after the barrage of criticisms she got from Nigerians on social media.

 Moving Forward

This statement shall never be the last of this saga. Victor Osimhen refused to celebrate his goal in their next match against Udinese possibly as a protest! Trust has been broken and the need to resolve this is important. Napoli could lose their treasured asset earlier than expected.

President Aurelio de Laurentis requires tact to douse the tension and reposition his club on the right course. Otherwise, they’d have a lot to lose.  The controversial video was mischievous and condescending. Napoli FC needs to seek peace and strive to recover from their bad start to the Italian Football League. With these set, Victor Osimhen et al can again keep them in stardom.