Lille’s Surprising Profit from Victor Osimhen’s €70 Million Transfer

Four years after Victor Osimhen’s transfer from Lille OSC to SSC Napoli, the French club’s president has revealed the surprising financial details of the deal.

In the summer of 2020, Lille sold Osimhen to Napoli for a reported €70 million, potentially rising to €80 million with add-ons. This transfer set a new record for the Italian club at the time. Osimhen’s value had significantly increased during his tenure at Lille, where he was named the club’s Player of the Season for 2019-20.

Following the transfer, Osimhen continued to excel in Serie A, playing a crucial role in Napoli’s league title victory in the 2022-23 season. Meanwhile, Lille managed to secure the Ligue 1 title in the 2020-21 season, their first without Osimhen.

However, Lille’s president, Olivier Létang, has now disclosed that the club’s actual profit from the sale was surprisingly low. In an interview, Létang stated that Lille only received €7 million from the deal, after accounting for commissions, intermediary fees, and capital gains. He emphasized that there were no retro-commissions involved and added that Lille earned significantly more from the sales of other players like Carlos Baleba and Amadou Onana.

The unexpectedly small profit from Osimhen’s high-profile transfer has raised questions and is currently part of ongoing investigations by French and Italian authorities. These investigations aim to scrutinize this deal and other transfers from the same period to ensure transparency and legality in football transfers.