Was that as good as it could ever be? That’s the question Napoli fans are asking themselves after last season’s title-winning team has exploded in remarkable fashion this year. To add to their misery, the architects of their title win, Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, have now been embroiled in a spat through their agents after the representative of each player ran their mouths in the media.
So, what is it all about and what lies in Napoli’s future? Here are all the details-
Osimhen-Kvaratskhelia agent spat
It all started with Kvaratskhelia’s agent, Mamuka Jugeli. Speaking to 1TV of Georgia, Jugeli made an unfounded claim that Osimhen will move to Saudi Arabia in the summer after having signed a new contract this year.
Osimhen’s new contract has a release clause worth £113 million, pretty much an open invitation for elite clubs to make a run at him.
However, the player, who has already rejected Saudi’s advances once last summer, clearly took issue with the insinuation that he is looking for money over success.
Going ballistic on social media, Osimhen responded strongly to Jugeli’s claims.
He said: “Dear Mamuka Jugeli, you are a piece of filth and a disgrace. I’m embarrassed at your sense of reasoning. Dumbf-ck! Keep my name out of your mouth!!!”
The thing which probably hurt Osimhen the hardest were Jugeli trying to insinuate that his own client, Kvaratskhelia, would never accept such a move.
It was clearly taken as a thinly veiled attack on Osimhen’s ambition, while simultaneously propping up his own client’s chase for legacy over money.
The Nigerian’s agent also got involved recently, rejecting all such claims by Jugeli, stating that such statements only cause more problems between players and fans in an already turbulent time for the club.
He said: “The alleged words of agent Mamuka Jugeli are bad, superficial and unacceptable. These words create problems for my player Victor Osimhen with Napoli fans without any reason or real of the reality.”
Throughout the whole saga, Kvaratskhelia has kept quiet and for many fans, him not coming out and rejecting his agent’s statements has been looked at as his support of the same.
Napoli’s season had already gone off the rails before it started when title-winning manager Luciano Spalletti resigned. Now, their two superstars are engaged in a public war through their agents.
Not the future Napoli fans would have hoped for when they were in dreamland last year.