Victor Osimhen’s relationship with his club team is on shaky ground following a video posted on Napoli’s TikTok platform mocking the striker for missing a penalty.
The TikTok post, which has since been deleted, showed Osimhen failing to score on a penalty kick during Napoli’s scoreless draw against Bologna. In the video, a high-pitched voice seemingly mocking Osimhen saying “gimme penalty please,” has led to agent Roberto Calenda releasing a statement saying they are considering legal action against the club, which plays in Italy’s Serie A.
“What happened today on Napoli’s official profile on the TikTok platform is not acceptable. A video mocking Victor was first made public and then, but now belatedly, deleted,” Calenda wrote in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“A serious fact that causes very serious damage to the player and adds to the treatment that the boy is suffering in the last period between media trials and fake news. We reserve the right to take legal action and any useful initiative to protect Victor.”
A second video posted three days before also mockingly compared Osimhen to a coconut.
It was a rare penalty miss for the Nigerian striker who has scored 62 goals in 107 appearances for the Serie A club. Last season, Osimhen led Napoli to their first Scudetto in 30 years, scoring 31 goals across all competition.
There appeared to be tension on the pitch between Osimhen and new Napoli manager Rudi Garcia, whom the striker was seen berating on his way off the pitch after being substituted with four minutes left in the match. The 24-year-old issued an apology to Garcia and his teammates for his reaction after being subbed off.
Osimhen was included in Napoli’s lineup for Wednesday’s game against Udinese and is slated to start at the Stadio Maradona. However, the striker did not appear to be in a cheerful mood when he arrived ignoring his teammates and keeping his head down.
Osimhen, who was a target for English clubs Chelsea and Manchester United during the summer transfer window, was in the process of negotiating a contract extension with Napoli, with his current deal ending in June 2025.
He was signed by Napoli from Lille for a club-record fee of €70 million in 2021, a transfer which is now being investigated by Italian authorities.
According to reports from La Repubblica and Sky Sports Italia, Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis is among those being investigated by prosecutors in Rome for allegedly falsely inflating the value of the transfer with four players sold to Lille as part of the deal in order to inflate capital gains.
