Napoli Threaten legal action over Osimhen doll as Eagles striker shuns penalty duties

Serie A Champions Napoli have condemned the sale and manufacturing of a Victor Osimhen doll, detaching themselves from the item. Images of an Osimhen doll went viral on social media recently and the doll, which has the trademark hair and mask of the Nigerian striker, has been made out of the template of one of the most prominent dolls in Italy. It is, in fact, a new design of the Cicciobello Bomber, which is made by Giochi Preziosi.

It was reported in the media that the doll has been authorised by Napoli and Aurelio de Laurentiis and that it will be sold soon later this month.

But Napoli have released a statement, confirming that the Partenopei never authorised the sale and they condemned the reports that state

otherwise. They have stated the product is ‘unofficial’ and the club never authorised it from their end. The club have now taken actions to protect its interests.

The club is thinking of taking legal action against an Italian toy store over the release of a doll that was not authorised by the club.

The club said Thursday evening stating that neither the club nor Osimhen authorised the doll.

They also say it is a breach of the player’s image rights and therefore will sue the company over the release.

A part of the official statement reads: “We’re denying any report on the Italian media about releasing kids toy ‘Cicciobello Bomber’ inspired by Osimhen in Napoli shirt.

“That product was not authorized by the club — we will settle this issue in court”.

The strange doll also features a protective mask with Osimhen’s jersey number ‘9’ on it, as well as a light blue jersey and a blond tuft of curly hair.

The news comes at a time when the future of the Nigerian striker at the club is in huge doubt after the recent controversy over the now-deleted sarcastic TikTok videos uploaded on the club’s social account.

Meanwhile, Osimhen has reportedly taken himself off penalty-taking duty for Napoli after a now infamous series of TikToks were posted to the club’s social media channels in recent weeks.

Since the incident, Napoli have played three matches and been awarded penalties in every one of those games. Osimhen has not taken any of them.

Instead, Piotr Zielinski took on the responsibility against Udinese as well as against Real Madrid in Wednesday night’s Champions League clash at the Maradona.

Matteo Politano took the injury-time kick against Lecce in the game sandwiched between the two aforementioned fixtures.

According to reports from La Repubblica, it was Osimhen himself who decided to take himself off penalty duty, having felt unnecessarily mocked by the club’s social media team.

Osimhen had scored two of the three spot-kicks he took in Serie A during the title-winning 2022-23 season, and had scored one of the two he had taken in the early stages of the 2023-24 campaign.