Why Victor Osimhen Could Quit Galatasaray Loan Early

Victor Osimhen’s loan contract with Galatasaray has included a clause that will see him free to quit the club and return to Italy early if one of 10 different football clubs makes a permanent transfer offer for him in January. The forward shocked the world this week when he agreed a deal to join Galatasaray on loan for the entirety of the 2024/25 football season. Osimhen seemed destined to leave Napoli this summer, with multiple teams interested in his services, but a deal couldn’t be agreed with Chelsea and he remained with the Serie A side once the transfer window slammed shut.

The club then left him out of their squad for the campaign, but he was fortunately offered a lifeline in the form of a loan move to Turkey. The Turkish transfer window was left open a little later than the majority of Europe, so they seized the opportunity to offer Osimhen the chance to play this season. With the threat of sitting out and being inactive for the year, he made the move and will play in Turkey for the campaign.

Maybe not the entire campaign, though, as before the loan move was agreed, Osimhen made sure that there was a very specific clause put into his contract that means he could be free to quit the spell and leave Galatasaray as early as January.

The Clause Will Let Him Leave if Certain Clubs Want Him in January

He’s included a list of 10 specific teams in the deal

With some of the biggest and best football teams in the world chasing Osimhen this summer, no one saw a loan move to Galatasaray being on the horizon for him. Having failed to negotiate a permanent transfer away from Napoli, though, he was left with little choice. It was either join the Turkish side on loan or risk not playing a single minute of football for the season.

Still, while he’s happily moved to Turkey, he doesn’t want the deal to disrupt his plans of finally landing a permanent move away from Naples and has included a clause in his contract that means he can quit Galatasaray early if certain football teams approach him in January. In fact, according to Turkish media outlet A Spor, he has included 10 very specific teams in the contract.

It’s currently unclear the identity of any of the 10 teams that Osimhen has named in the deal, but if one of them comes calling in January, he’ll be allowed to cancel his loan and secure a permanent transfer. It’s safe to say he’s likely played his last ever game for Napoli.

Osimhen Became a Star at Napoli

He thrived in Naples

Having emerged as a promising prospect at Lille, Osimhen joined Napoli in 2020 when he was just 21 years old and took to life in Italy like a duck to water. The Nigerian thrived in Serie A and scored an incredible amount of goals over the course of the last four years. He never scored less than double figures in each of his campaigns in Naples and attracted major attention from some of the biggest teams in football.

After flirting with a move away, the forward’s relationship with Napoli is beyond the point of return, it seems, and he’s likely played his final ever game for the club. If that’s the case, his record of 76 goals in 133 matches is not bad at all.

All statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt and accurate as of 03.09.2024.