Prosecutors want Napoli’s owner, club to stand trial for Osimhen transfer fraud

Italian prosecutors on Wednesday called for Napoli and the club’s owner Aurelio De Laurentiis to stand trial for false accounting related to transfers, including that of Serie A title hero Victor Osimhen.

Napoli, De Laurentiis and one of his key advisors Andrea Chiavelli are suspected by prosecutors in Rome of filing falsified accounts between 2019 and 2021, with their investigation focused on the signings of Kostas Manolas from Roma and Osimhen from Lille.

The 70 million-euro deal for Nigeria striker Osimhen — now on loan at Galatasaray — in 2020 raised eyebrows due to four players valued at around 20 million euros moving to Lille, three of whom never played for the French club.

Napoli and De Laurentiis’ lawyers said that the decision to ask for a trial was “incomprehensible”.

“In the documents there are opinions from consultants and independent bodies which demonstrate incontrovertibly that Napoli acted legitimately and in compliance with Italian accounting principles,” said Fabio Fulgeri and Lorenzo Contrada.

“We are convinced that the proceedings will conclude positively (for Napoli and De Laurentiis).”

A preliminary hearing judge will decide within six months whether the alleged offences are worthy of a criminal trial which would likely take years to complete.

However, a source at Napoli told AFP that the documents in the prosecutors’ trial request have already been ruled as containing nothing incriminating by disciplinary authorities at Italy’s football federation (FIGC).

The source said that there is “no chance” of Napoli being penalised by the FIGC even if the club were eventually found guilty in criminal courts, and added that they were confident a trial wouldn’t even take place.

– Scudetto star –

Osimhen was a huge star