Gomez: Getting Osimhen to join Galatasaray a dream move we never expected

Galatasaray have been home to some of Europe’s best players in recent years, but getting Victor Osimhen to join the Turkish side tops everything the club had done in the past, confesses assistant manager, Ismael Garcia Gomez.

Gomez told BBC that even Galatasaray were taken by surprise when the opportunity arose to sign one of the world’s most in-demand strikers.

When it became obvious that Napoli were determined to part ways with their top striker in August, Osimhen was linked with top clubs in the Premier League and La Liga, or a money-spinning move to Saudi Arabia. But a couple of days into September, the 25-year-old Nigerian was being mobbed at the airport arrivals in Istanbul, having signed on a year’s loan with the Turkish champions.

Osimhen’s move on loan to Turkey, according to Gomez, was done within two days as Galatasaray became an option when the rest of the European transfer window closed, except Turkey.

“Galatasaray was an amazing option for him,” Garcia Gomez says. “The info we had was that he was super motivated to be part of our family, so it was very simple to make the deal.”

The response outside of Turkey was generally shock that Osimhen had joined a Turkish club rather than go to the prestige of England, or the cash of Saudi Arabia – but Turkish football journalist Kaan Bayazit says Galatasaray fit Osimhen on several levels.

“The wages being thrown around in the Premier League now make a big difference,” he told BBC Sport. “Nottingham Forest wouldn’t bat an eyelid at his wages. But Galatasaray have been breaking the bank in recent years. Also I don’t think Osimhen wanted to settle, he wanted to stay at the very top.

“You either go for ambition, or you go for the really big bag – and he wanted the top level.”
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