Exclusive: How De Laurentiis finally unlocked the Osimhen transfer on his terms + what next for Napoli

Victor Osimhen and Aurelio de Laurentiis (Photo by Ahmad Mora, Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images)

This transfer window will be remembered for the Victor Osimhen deal; how it unfolded, but above all, how it ended. Once the player and Galatasaray’s will was clear, Aurelio De Laurentiis became the deus ex machina, not much in terms of ancient Greek theatre, but in a modern key: the one who, perhaps not unexpectedly, brought the tricky saga to a successful end.

Let me also add that he unravelled the tangle exactly as he had wanted. You may disagree with many things about him, but when it comes to Osimhen, now on the verge of finalising deals with Galatasaray, just two words suffice: total victory. That’s a fact, not an opinion.

We never saw him afraid of being left holding the bag. He handed the negotiations for Victor’s return to Turkey, as there was always a tomorrow. Unbothered by the passing time, the expired clause, the media pressure or an entire fan base demanding Osimhen as if he were arriving for free.

Victor Osimhen celebrates a goal for Galatasaray against Fenerbahce (Photo by Ahmad Mora/Getty Images)

The turning point was on July 8, when everyone realised that simply announcing the intention to pay Osimhen’s clause wasn’t enough to bring him to Galatasaray. As if words alone, without the necessary guarantees, would suffice. From that Tuesday, July 8, Galatasaray had to go all in. They had to involve banks and top executives. For 12 days, until last Sunday, they pushed to close the most expensive deal in their history.

Galatasaray’s passionate fans are now preparing the celebration of the year to welcome Victor, but De Laurentiis never lost control of the situation, not for a second, despite less than a year left on the contract and even though triggering an extension to 2027 would have meant shelling out a crazy net salary of around €15m.

This is the good part of the story: De Laurentiis got precisely what he demanded, without budging in the slightest. It had to be €75m and he got €75m. The payment structure cannot extend beyond 2026, and there will be no issues. The anti-Serie A clause, which we might as well call the anti-Juventus clause, will be valid for two years. If Galatasaray want to break it, they’ll have to pay an absurd fee. Add a few bonuses to bring the total to €5m, and why not include a sell-on clause? Let’s make it 10%. Truly, the maximum. Napoli pocketed the amount they had planned, circa €150m, if we include the Khvicha Kvaratskhelia deal from last January, saying goodbye to two protagonists of the penultimate Scudetto.

Napoli had already committed to Antonio Conte by moving in the market even before the Osimhen deal was finalised. Now, they can focus on the remaining deals without worries.

Here you have Vanja Milinkovic-Savic too, for the many sceptics. It was July 12 when we first mentioned Napoli’s surprising return for the Torino goalkeeper. In the meantime, Napoli were also working on Noa Lang and Sam Beukema. Now, they can go all-in for Milinkovic-Savic. A transfer we already considered done a week ago. Napoli will pay a few million more than the €19m clause in exchange for better payment terms. At the same time, Cyril Ngonge will move to Torino with confirmed terms: paid loan deal worth €1m plus an €18m option to buy, while Franco Israel (Sporting CP) will be Milinkovic-Savic’s replacement.