Napoli director urged to leave ‘no traces in emails’ in suspicious Osimhen deal | OneFootball

La Repubblica newspaper has published documents and emails from negotiations between Napoli and Lille for Victor Osimhen in 2020, with former Partenopei director Cristiano Giuntoli urged to leave ‘no traces in emails.’

Documents, emails and text messages between Napoli and Lille directors have been published by Repubblica newspaper.

Rome Prosecutors Lorenzo Del Giudice and Giorgio Ornano have already requested that Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis and CEO Andrea Chiavelli stand trial for alleged false accounting in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Osimhen’s transfer from Napoli to Lille has been investigated by Italian authorities, but Napoli do not risk a point deduction in sporting terms as FIGC Prosecutor Giuseppe Chiné has already cleared the Partenopei.

La Repubblica has obtained documents related to the investigation, which include text messages and emails between ex-Napoli directors Giuntoli and Giuseppe Pompilio, Napoli’s former vice sporting director.

Giuntoli warned: ‘No traces in emails’

Juventus Football director Cristiano Giuntoli (Photo by MARCO BERTORELLO / AFP) (Photo by MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images)

“You must not write anything. No traces in emails. Say whatever you like in person,” Pompilio wrote to Giuntoli in a text message on July 17, 2020. Neither Giuntoli nor Pompilio are under investigation.

The report claims that Napoli set the spending limit for Osimhen to €50m, and while Lille President Gerard Lopez was open to discussing the deal, he also valued the Nigeria international at €70m.

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Therefore, the two clubs started discussing a possible swap deal, and that’s where the issues began.

“This will allow you to pay an inferior price than any other club, but with the necessary nominal value to close the deal,” Lopez wrote in an email, which investigators consider a key element proving the two clubs voluntarily inflated transfer values.

The two clubs initially discussed including Fernando Llorente in the deal, then attention moved to Leandrinho, a Napoli-owned Brazilian winger on loan at Bragantino. Napoli directors reportedly considered valuing Leandrinho at €10m-15m, but Bragantino had an option to sign him for just €500,000.

Lille’s offer to include Karnezis in Osimhen deal

ROME, ITALY – DECEMBER 23: Victor Osimhen of SSC Napoli reacts with Gianluca Mancini of AS Roma during the Serie A TIM match between AS Roma and SSC Napoli at Stadio Olimpico on December 23, 2023 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Paolo Bruno/Getty Images)

Lille then became interested in Adam Ounas and Orestis Karnezis, a 35-year-old goalkeeper who Napoli had signed in 2018 for €2.5m.

Karnezis was a request made by Lille, who were ready to value the experienced keeper €35m, but the French club’s president warned in a new email: “On this point, it is of extreme importance that there be no communication about the deal or the price. It would defeat the purpose of the agreement and make us all look bad.”

Karnezis was initially valued at €15m, but his price decreased to €10m, €7m and ultimately €5m as Napoli added three academy players, rather than Ounas, in the deal: Luigi Liguori and Claudio Manzi, valued at €4m each, and Ciro Palmieri, valued at €7m.

None of the products of the Napoli academy made their debut with the French club, and Liguori said in 2021 that he had never even been to Lille.