It was the transfer soap opera of the summer and a game of brinksmanship from Victor Osimhen that blew up spectacularly.
The Nigerian appeared hell bent on moving to Chelsea at various stages of the summer transfer window, and yet, in what seemed to be a situation where he wanted to extract every penny from the deal, ended up turning into such a mess that he faced the genuine possibility of being banished to the sidelines by Napoli.
Fortunately for all concerned, Turkish giants, Galatasaray, have arrived as the proverbial nights in shining armour.
According to CaughtOffside columnist and transfer expert, Fabrizio Romano, Osimhen has now agreed to join the club on loan until next summer.
Gala do not have a buy option or obligation written into the deal and the likelihood of him staying beyond his loan would appear to be slim, given that it’s understood he’d always wanted a big club to come in for him.
‘Here we go’ for Victor Osimhen
For now, it’s a deal that evidently suits all parties, though things can – and often do – change in football in the blink of an eye.
Perhaps the deal can also serve as a warning to players in particular moving forward.
As FFP continues to bite hard, clubs are seemingly not going to be as bold as they might previously have been in the transfer market.
Chelsea in particular appear to be walking a tightrope as far as that’s concerned, and that might go some way to explaining why the Blues were reticent to accept the striker’s financial demands.
In any event, all’s well that ends well and Napoli will also surely be breathing a sigh of relief after the deadline day collapse of a deal for Osimhen, which would’ve left them in a very delicate situation.