Yahoo Sports Manna on Osimhen report: ‘Nobody has talked to Napoli’
Napoli director Giovanni Manna insists ‘nobody talked to us’ about activating Victor Osimhen’s release clause in January, so he remains on loan with Galatasaray.
The game with Lazio kicks off at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona at 19.45 GMT.
The pressure is on the Partenopei, because with Atalanta registering nine consecutive Serie A victories, only a win here will enable them to retain the leadership.
“We only look at ourselves and not the others in the table, so that might be our secret,” Manna told DAZN.
“We believe every single game has value, we try to build something important over time with solidity and team spirit. Those are our prerogatives.”
Napoli deny Osimhen reports
There have been reports over the last few days that Paris Saint-Germain or Manchester United want to activate the €75m release clause and buy Osimhen in January, interrupting his loan spell with Galatasaray and bringing fresh funds for Napoli.
“I already said many times, nobody has talked to us. Victor is owned by Napoli and currently playing for Galatasaray. I think too much has been said about this, there is nothing happening.
“We made a lot of investments over the summer, if it should be needed, we would be ready to make more. We are concentrated on our campaign, if there is an opportunity to improve the squad, then we will take it, but that is not our priority right now.
“Our job is to be ready if called upon.”
Napoli faced Lazio in the Coppa Italia Round of 16 on Thursday and were defeated 3-1 by a Tijjani Noslin hat-trick, however, Conte has changed all 11 players from that starting line-up.
“We are up against a very strong opponent that changed nine of the starting XI, seeing as people criticised us for changing all XI,” concluded Manna.
