Sports
Napoli Confirms Osimhen’s Exit This Summer
After leading Napoli to their first title in over 30 years, the Nigerian striker has been a key target for a number of big European clubs.
Despite signing a new deal last month, Osimhen’s contract is said to include a release clause of £112million.
Di Laurentiis revealed that the club ‘know’ the star will depart this summer: ‘This was already known since this summer, our negotiations were friendly, otherwise it would not have been so long.
The club president went on to speculate on where the star could be heading in the summer transfer window.
‘We knew he would go to Real Madrid, PSG or a top English club’ added Di Laurentiis.
Speaking to Tidesports source Osimhen confirmed himself that he ‘already knows’ his next steps for his footballing career.
A rumour is going around about me linked with the Premier League,’ Osimhen began. ‘When you are one of the hottest strikers in the globe, you expect this kind of thing.
‘Of course, EPL is one of the biggest and best leagues in the whole world.
‘At Napoli, I just signed a new contract, I enjoy my time there, going through it with the team, and at the end of the season, I already made up my mind.
‘I know what I want to do with my career. Since I’ve started I’ve been the one taking my own decisions and everything’s working out for me, even though when I started, it didn’t go as well as planned, but I already had my plan.
‘I already knew the next step I want to take.’
Chelsea and Arsenal, both in need of potent attacking firepower are thought to be among the Premier League suitors keen on securing the Nigeria international, but Osimhen poured cold water on speculation over a January move with the signing of a new bumper contract to extend his deal with the Serie A champions.
England captain Harry Kane netted a hat-trick to guide Bayern Munich to an impressive victory against Stuttgart.
Kane’s goals, plus one from Kingsley Coman, helped Bayern end a three-game winless run in all competitions.
They faced a tough task against a Stuttgart side who sat back and limited their chances, leading Vincent Kompany’s side to enter the break frustrated and with the deadlock unbroken.
Bayern eventually found a way past Stuttgart’s steely defence when Kane drilled a low effort into the bottom corner from around 30 yards out after Joshua Kimmich overturned possession.
Former Nigeria goalkeeper, Dosu Joseph, is full of thanks to God after he miraculously survived another life-threatening automobile accident recent at Kara, along the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way, where a heavy-duty truck ran into his SUV.
Narrating his ordeal, the 51-year-old, who guided Nigeria to gold in the Men’s Football Tournament of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, broke the news in a statement on his social media handles on Friday.
“To God be the glory, another death escaped by Grace and Mercy of God. Me and my friend SM were at Enyo Filling Station after Ojodu Berger bus stop to get fuel on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, around 6 p.m. when this MACK truck fully loaded with iron, with registration number LND 470 XX, left the road and crushed my car beyond repairs. Thank God for life,” he stated.
This is the second time the soft-spoken club proprietor will cheat death by a whisker, having been involved in an accident in 1997 that ended his career at 23 and left his spinal cord in bad shape.
He helped Julius Berger win the Nigeria FA Cup in November 1997 shortly a memorable Olympic outing by keeping a clean sheet in the finals against Katsina United. The following year, he was involved in the auto along Ikorodu Road, Lagos, which not only cut his career short but also left him almost paralysed, ending his spell at Serie A club Reggiana.
The former Nigeria international, who also kept goal for Julius Berger FC, said the case has been reported to Isheri Police Station, Ogun State, where the driver is currently detained and the truck also seized.
According to him, the owner of the truck said he can’t fix the badly damaged SUV until after a year.
Ex – Super Eagles of Nigeria, Okwuchukwu Waobikeze has observed that sports development in Nigeria is going down.
According to him, grassroots sports is very important, without it, the administrators cannot get it right. So everybody should key into grassroots sports development, he said.
Waobikeze said this last Wednesday in an interview with sports journalists shortly after the Port Harcourt All Stars Independence football festival (OCTOBERFEST) at the Port Harcourt club, Rivers State.
He explained that for sports administrators to get it right, grassroots development is key. “They should be organising competition at the grassroots level to fish out the young ones for different sporting activities.
“Grassroots sports is very important so the administrators have to go back to the grassroots.
” Sports Development in Nigeria is going down we need to go back to the basics.
“Look at the just concluded Paris Olympics, Nigeria did not win any medal.
” Our football team did not even qualify for the Olympics. We are going down.
” If they should go back to the grassroots, they will get young ones in the games and talents will be developed.
” I started from school games, to youth games before playing for the national team. Now everybody wants to fly board to play professional football and a lot do not know the basics of the game.
” A lot of people did not know the little things about the game, they just want to play. It is not done so,” Waobikeze stated.
Kiadum Edookor