the new shocking revelations from Olivier Létang on the transfer of Victor Osimhen

This is a case that has shaken French and Italian football for several years. But to understand it better, let’s rewind the history of the last transfer windows and return to the summer of 2020. While the Ligue 1 season had been frozen on the 28th day, LOSC had officially finished in 4th position thanks in particular to a very great season for the new fashionable striker in Europe, the Nigerian Victor Osimhen, who finished joint-fourth top scorer in the French championship with 13 goals alongside Neymar. Several European clubs quickly mounted an interest in the Nigerian international and on July 31, 2020, Victor Osimhen signed a five-year contract for Napoli. The amount of the transfer was then estimated at 75 million euros according to several media at that time. The deal notably included four Neapolitan players (Ciro Palmieri, Luigi Liguori, Claudio Manzi, Oréstis Karnézis) most of whom are no longer professionals today.

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Very quickly, French justice and Italian justice took charge of the case. A double investigation had thus been opened in the two countries for possible accounting fraud by the Naples club in the context of the transfer of Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen, while LOSC had filed a complaint against the market value of Victor Osimhen. The Lille Public Prosecutor’s Office even carried out a search of the club’s offices at Domaine de Luchin. Searches had also taken place in the Napoli offices in Castel Volturno and in Rome by the Italian justice system, “aiming to collect useful documents in relation to alleged illegal behavior linked to the sale and purchase of certain players in the summer of 2020”. Arriving in Lille in December 2020, Olivier Létang continues to wage a battle against the former leaders including Gérard Lopez responsible for the critical situation of the Mastiffs at the time. If the verbal attacks come through the press, the Lille president has made new juicy revelations.

Only 7 million euros in the LOSC coffers?

Guest in The Evening Team Tuesday, Olivier Létang highlighted a new and disturbing element on the sale of the current Galatasaray scorer: “The net received from the sale of Osimhe, which was not 68 million, because we must remember that there were 4 players who arrived for 20 million, so the value was in reality zero. And so if we balance the purchase of the player, all the intermediaries, the capital gains, the commissions, the sale, the players who arrived, there are approximately 7 million who went into the club’s coffers, 7 millions, that is to say that LOSC earned a lot more money with Carlos Baléba, with Amadou Onana, with Sven Botman, with Leny Yoro enormously. Because indeed on the players that we sold, there were no more retro-commissions, commissions, intermediaries and so on, that is to say that the money came into the coffers of the club“. At first glance, many people took a percentage in the deal, leaving only 7 million crumbs for Lille.

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Following his monologue, the Lille president added a layer on Gérard Lopez, who was at the head of LOSC at the time of this transfer. Olivier Létang confirms that he is leading a legal battle against the owner who sank the Girondins de Bordeaux and who almost did the same earlier with Lille: “I’ve already talked about it. Once again, it’s nothing personal, but given my beliefs and my vision of the sport. For me, it is incomprehensible that he was allowed to take over another club. Ah yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, indeed, indeed, I had this discussion with an elected official from Bordeaux because I had been called, and unfortunately for the managers of Bordeaux, I had told them, there you go, I can write to you today what will happen in two years. We have filed two complaints and as president and general manager, we are civil parties“. In any case, Olivier Létang and LOSC are ready to make Gérard Lopez pay and avenge the Bordeaux supporters.