L’Équipe have broken down the much-scrutinised transfer of striker Victor Osimhen from Lille to Napoli in the summer of 2020, revealing that the current title holders only received around €36m out of the €71.3m fee.
Former Lille president Gérard Lopez had explained to RMC after the transfer that the transaction was set at €71.3m along with €10m in potential bonuses. Speaking to La Voix du Nord, current president Oliver Létang reported the fee to be only €68m, with the current club management indicating that only €10m has been brought in by the Nigerian’s move.
According to the documents read by L’Équipe, the €10m bonus brought up by Lopez is dependent on Napoli reaching the Champions League quarter-finals over the next four years – €2.5m for every time the Italians reach the last eight.
Part of the €71.3m fee includes €20m made up of four players which went the opposite way, a transaction which allowed Napoli to ease their Financial Fair Play obligations by registering incoming transfer fees. Gérard Lopez had accepted the offer as a result of the immediate cash injection it would provide, contrary to offers from other teams who would have paid in instalments.
One of these players is goalkeeper Orestis Karnezis, who is currently injured and has played one match so far with Les Dogues. The three others are Italian players whose contracts have been terminated and currently play in the lower leagues – Ciro Palmieri, Luigi Liguori, Claudio Manzi. All three young players were evidently sold for far beyond their worth, having been earning between €5,000 and €10,000 a month at the time of their sales.
LOSC were also made to pay out €3m of the transfer fee to Osimhen’s previous clubs in compensation, under FIFA’s recent scheme. An additional €8.3m was paid out to Charleroi as a signing-on fee. €6m are to go towards agents’ fees, although these are currently blocked by the club, who are investigating the legal nature of these.
Finally, Lille also paid interest on a loan from Banca Ifis, who billed the payment of the transfer fee in return for an interest rate of 4%. Lille received €40m from Banca Ifis. According to an internal souce, Osimhen brought in €36m to the club, which greatly relieved its financial issues during the summer of 2020.