Serie A
Napoli: After Juventus, prosecutors are investigating the transfer of Osimen in exchange for Karnezis
The sports prosecutor of the Italian Football Federation is investigating the transfer of Victor Ocimen from Lille to Napoli in exchange for money and four players, including Orestes Karnezis.
Napoli are on course to win this year’s Scudetto, led by Serie A top scorer Victor Osimen with 13 goals in 15 games. But the sports prosecutor could be the one who will have the final say in this effort, having requested more information on the Nigerian’s transfer from Lille in the summer of 2020, in a case that smells of… Juventus.
A few days after the decision to deduct 15 points from the ‘old lady’ for misrepresenting financial information through wire transfers that artificially increased the value of the transaction while improving her accounting situation, the FIGC is investigating whether the same thing happened to the ‘old lady’ Nigerian striker.
In the summer of 2020, Osimen was bought by Napoli for €72,000,000 plus €10,000,000 in bonuses. Of that amount, 20,000,000 was converted into live trades after four players went the opposite way.
One of them was Orestis Karnezis, who moved from backup goalkeeper at Napoli to a similar role at Lille and featured just once in the cup in two seasons. Napoli second-team players Luigi Liguori, Claudio Manzi and Ciro Palmieri moved to France with him.
The former Greece international goalkeeper’s transfer was valued at 5,130,000 despite making just nine appearances in the ‘Partenopei’. Palmieri appears to have cost 7,000,000 and Liguori and Manji 4,000,000 each, with neither having played in the Napoli first-team or later in Lille. Karnezis retired in the summer of 2022 after celebrating the 2021 championship with Lille. The other three players continue their careers in Italian amateur clubs after leaving the French side as free agents despite costing millions two seasons ago.
Sports prosecutor Giuseppe Cine is investigating the case by requesting copies of evidence from a deputy investigation into team owner Aurelio de Laurentiis from the city prosecutor. The evidence emerged from raids by authorities on the Italian businessman’s offices in Naples, Rome and France on June 21, 2022.
During the investigation into Juventus, club officials were caught artificially inflating the Bianconeri’s transfer fee in bugged authorities.
Source: sport 24
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