Napoli chief Manna reveals Osimhen's reluctance to play for the club

Osimhen, who experienced failed transfers to Chelsea and Al Ahli on deadline day, has been removed from the senior squad and lost his No9 shirt number.

Manna told DAZN: “The situation is very clear, it has been since the end of last season. Victor expressed his absolute desire to not stay at Napoli, to not play for Napoli, and we tried to make him happy.

“Then there is a demand and an offer, we thought that we had concluded the negotiations, but then it did not go through. We bought Lukaku, kept Raspadori and Simeone, which was not to be taken for granted.

“At this moment, we maintain the same consistency we had since the start: he expressed the desire to no longer play for Napoli and so we made other choices.”

Manna also stated: “The transfer market is still open, there are many options, but I don’t think Victor will go to Saudi Arabia in this transfer session.

“Our ideas were clear from the start. We were waiting to sell Victor to finance these operations, but the sale did not arrive and the President took on the responsibility to invest and reboot. He took on all the risk, he was incredible.”