Napoli and Lille are once again under legal scrutiny as prosecutors in Rome press for a trial over alleged false accounting linked to Victor Osimhen’s €70m transfer in 2020.
According to La Repubblica via Football Italia, prosecutors Lorenzo Del Giudice and Giorgio Ornano have asked that Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis and CEO Andrea Chiavelli stand trial for suspected financial irregularities surrounding the deal.
Investigators allege that both clubs inflated the valuations of four lesser-known players, Orestis Karnezis, Luigi Liguori, Claudio Manzi, and Ciro Palmieri, to disguise €20m of the transfer fee.
None of the youth players ever appeared for Lille before being released.
Recovered emails and WhatsApp messages reportedly show internal doubts from Napoli officials, with Chiavelli warning in one message that the deal could amount to “robbery,” while Lille executives also expressed concern about the structure of the agreement.
Despite the ongoing criminal investigation, Football Italia reports that Napoli face no sporting penalties, as Italy’s football federation previously cleared the club of wrongdoing.
Osimhen’s transfer remains one of the most expensive involving an African player.
He went on to become Serie A’s top scorer and guided Napoli to the 2022–23 title before joining Galatasaray in 2024.
