Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen was one of ten Serie A stars who turned down lucrative offers from clubs in the Saudi Pro League during the January transfer window, Soccernet.football reports.
In recent years, the Saudi Pro League has gained recognition for its strategy of luring top European football stars with lucrative contracts. It aims to attract high-profile players by offering economically rewarding deals and this approach has placed the league in the global spotlight.
Players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Roberto Firmino, Riyad Mahrez, Ivan Toney, Yassine Bounou, Joao Cancelo, Gini Wijnaldum, Aymeric Laporte, Aleksander Mitrovic, N’golo Kante, Ruben Neves, Frank Kessie, Fabinho among a host of others now ply their trades in Saudi.
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During the winter window, clubs from the Middle-East nation were once again busy in the European market. According to Tuttomercatoweb, ten players from the Italian top-flight including Nigeria’s Osimhen refused the chance to join Ronaldo and co in the Saudi Pro League.
Although the 26-year-old is currently on loan at Turkish Super Lig club Galatasaray, he is still considered a Napoli player. Al-Ahli, one of Saudi’s top sides attempted to secure Osimhen’s signature, lodging a bid for the striker but the Nigeria international preferred to continue in Europe and turned down the offer.
Osimhen’s decision to remain in Europe was in sharp contrast to that of Super Eagles teammate and fellow striker Victor Boniface. The Bayer Leverkusen star was on the brink of joining Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr on deadline day for a fee in excess of €60 million before a last minute u-turn by the Saudi club saw them recruit Aston Villa youngster Jhon Duran instead.
The other Serie A stars who turned down offers from Saudi include Dusan Vlahovic, Rafael Leao, Danilo and Koni de Winter of Juventus, AC Milan and Genoa respectively, who all rejected a move to Al-Nassr. Inter’s Nicolo Barella snubbed Al-Hilal’s advances while the likes of Leandro Paredes, Nicolo Fagioli, Matteo Politano and Stefan de Vrij also chose to remain in Italy despite receiving offers.
