Police raid Napoli, Lille offices over controversial Osimhen €81m transfer

Security operatives under the authority of the Italian Guard of Finance have conducted raids on the offices of Napoli and Lille over the 2020 transfer of Victor Osimhen. 

According to reports, the policemen raided Napoli's and Lille's offices in Naples, Rome, and France as they reopened the investigation into the allegations of fraud concerning the deal that took the Super Eagles star to Napoli.

Osimhen continues to be at the centre of a transfer controversy that saw him become Napoli's record signing of all time, despite having shone for the club in his two seasons with the Partenopei.

As reported by Italian news outlet spazionapoli, Napoli's office at the FilmAuro in Rome and their headquarters in Castel Volturno were raided on Tuesday with 'letters, e-mails, telephone communications, financial flows' all seized.

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Napoli's President Aurelio de Laurentiis is reportedly under investigation for his role in the transfer alongside his wife Jacqueline Baudit, their children Edoardo and Valentina, as well as the managing director Chiavelli.

There were reports that electronic devices (computers and iPads) belonging to De Laurentiis were also seized during the raid as the Napoli president is being investigated for 'false accounting' on the Osimhen deal.

The Italian and French football and legal authorities allege that the supposed €81m deal that Napoli reached with Lille to buy Osimhen was filled with financial improprieties.

It is believed that the deal was actually for €50m in cash upfront with another €10m in performance-based add-ons and the remaining €21m as valuation for the swap of four Napoli players to Lille.

However, French newspaper L'Equipe reported that Lille only got €36m of the €50m upfront payment while the supposed four players (goalkeeper Orestis Karnezis and three youth team players Luigi Liguori, Claudio Manzi and Ciro Palmieri) actually never moved to Lille.