Conte claims Napoli lost big money on Osimhen as Okafor will join RB Leipzig on Monday

Napoli manager Antonio Conte has effectively confirmed the reports in the summer were true, so Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Victor Osimhen both wanted to leave, but Napoli delayed the moves and could miss out on a lot of money.
The Partenopei won the Scudetto in 2023, but Luciano Spalletti left and their next season was a disaster, going through several coaches and finishing 10th in Serie A, failing to qualify for Europe.
The club hired Conte and hoped his arrival would be enough to convince their star names to remain, though it seems this was a doomed approach from the start.
Osimhen made it very clear in pre-season that he intended to leave Napoli and did not take part in any pre-season friendly matches, eventually failing to find a suitable buyer by deadline day.
Stuck in a no-win situation, Osimhen was loaned to Galatasaray – as the Turkish transfer market was still open – with the hope he would not further lose value and be able to find a club willing to invest.
As for Kvaratskhelia, there had been multiple reports in the summer that he too had asked to leave, but that Conte demanded at least one of their star men remain while negotiations continued over a new contract.
In his statements to DAZN Sunday evening, the coach effectively confirmed this was true, confessing that he had hoped to convince the Georgia international to change his mind.
If Napoli had been open to selling Kvaratskhelia and Osimhen together last summer, Paris Saint-Germain were reportedly ready to pay €200m for the pair in a package deal.
Now PSG are hoping to pay no more than €55m for Kvaratskhelia, while Osimhen’s value has dropped from the €120m release clause to what will be only €75m in the summer.
Elsewhere, Milan received good news with reports Noah Okafor will fly out on Monday for his RB Leipzig medical, completing the transfer on loan with the option to buy.
The negotiations had seemed to be a done deal, only to suddenly slow down again over the last 48 hours with concerns over the cost and the player’s injury record.
According to Sky Sport Italia transfer expert Gianluca Di Marzio, Fabrizio Romano and others, discussions proved successful and unblocked what was holding up the agreement.
It is set to be a loan at €1.5m with an option to buy for circa €25m.
Okafor, who was not even on the bench for last night’s 1-1 draw with Cagliari, is now expected to fly out to Germany on Monday for his medical tests.
There are two reasons why Milan needs to get Okafor off their books in January, not only will he free up a spot for another forward, but he will above all remove one of the non-EU player slots in the squad.
Switzerland, like Albania and the United Kingdom, are not part of the European Union, so their transfers are outside the realm of freedom of movement for work.
Milan paid €15.5m to sign Okafor from RB Salzburg in the summer of 2023.