Napoli’s cruel treatment of Victor Osimhen

Memories are short in football, but there’s hardly anything a Black player is ever going to do to earn a place of affection in the mind of an establishment European. Black players, the moment they determine to chart a different course of fall out of favour, are mere monkeys. Austin Okocha was BBC African Footballer of the Year and had taken a terrible step joining Bolton Wanderers but a fan was once accosted online asking him to pack his “snake skin” bags and leave the club he had helped gain traction. If my memory serves me right a shell-shocked fan asked the clown: “Are you seriously comparing a BCC African Footballer of the Year to de Freitas?” That question may as well be thrown at former Napoli striker Emanuele Calaio, the cretin currently trying his best to mar the image of the reigning African Footballer of the Year, Victor Osimhen. Calaio wants his listeners to believe that Napoli’s Antonio Conte chose Romelu Lukaku over Osimhen due to the Belgian’s leadership qualities. Hear him: “Have you seen what he (Lukaku) did with Monza? It was clear from the TV, he always encouraged his teammates, he guided them..He is a player who has put himself completely at the disposal of his teammates and Napoli.” There you have it: Osimhen wasn’t there for Napoli. I wonder what people like Calaio see when they look into the mirror. I mean, how do these rogues sleep at night?

Even with his prolonged absence away from Serie A due to AFCON duties and injury spells, Osimhen still managed to score 15 goals for the Naples outfit, but his desire to leave the toxic club rankled the racists to no end. Somehow, they must diminish Black players—at least those who choose to have a mind. By simply expressing his desire to the club that clearly wouldn’t let go of its demons, Osimhen had become public enemy number one. The offer of a lifetime came from Saudi Arabian side Al-Ahli but Napoli was determined to defeat its best player. The club killed the transfer that would have seen Osimhen earn €40 million (£34m/$44m) per season over the next four years. Unable to secure a preferred switch to one of Europe’s top-flight clubs, with a cheerless Chelsea offer quickly dispensed with, Osimhen had reportedly agreed the deal with the Saudi Pro League side that could have firmed up the ambitions of the Arabian League and further strengthened its stakes in world football—the Saudis beat FIFA-favoured Argentina at the last World Cup—and changed the dynamics of his financial future. In a crass display of greed propelled by sheer sadism, Napoli demanded an extra €5m (£4m/$5.5m) on top of the €80m (£67m/$88m) offered by Al-Ahli, forcing the club to walk away from the negotiations.

Osimhen and his agent were reportedly livid seeing the deal evaporate, with the latter making furious phone calls to club president Aurelio De Laurentiis and sporting director Giovanni Manna. Osimhen, 25, was treated like a common criminal despite scoring 76 goals in 133 appearances for Napoli. As a quick aside: had Nigeria and Africa been ruled by people like Obafemi Awolowo, Black players would have lived extremely decent lives plying their trade on Black soil. It was our leaders that sold us out to these racist vermin.

The signs had been there all along, and Osimhen should never have penned an extension with that renegade outfit. When the then 24-year-old Lagos boy propelled Napoli to the summit of Italian football for the first time in 33 years, it was his teammate Khvicha Kvaratskhelia that Serie A had shamelessly crowned King of Naples. The comedy reminded me of UEFA’s Forward of the Season nonsense slammed on Cristiano Ronaldo after the unmatched forward put up yet another phenomenal display at the UCL in 2018. Ronaldo was clearly the Player of the Tournament, but raw hatred gave the crown to a midfielder. That would not have been the case if it was someone with Italian roots that was involved and not the man from Madeira, an Island clearly within the bounds of Africa. Haters can never avoid their role as haters. The Serie A clowns mocked Osimhen for missing a penalty, something they had not deigned to do when Roberto Baggio, say, missed a penalty at the USA 94 final.

Napoli claimed it “never intended to offend” Osimhen after the club posted and then quickly deleted the social media mockery which caused the player to delete almost all pictures of himself in the team’s shirt from his social media accounts. French great Thierry Henry could not believe it: “ That is your player!,” he said, completely aghast at Napoli’s cruelty. In the essay, “Victor Osimhen’s Mistreatment Is Unforgivable and All Too Familiar,” football analyst Mayowa Quadri wrote on September 28, 2023: “This week, it became clear how far that is from the truth and how fragile success can be for a Black man in Italy. Someone who should be hailed by the club is being mocked by it. Napoli’s TikTok posted two videos this week that undermined Osimhen. The first was a jab at his recent penalty miss, the second mocked his appearance and repeatedly called him a “coconut”. No one needs to be told about the racial connotations that have long been associated with an insult like that.”

Napoli is playing ping-pong with Osimhen’s release clause, trying to set him up for future pain. African players should avoid this noxious club.

Time to check Wizkid into rehab

For weeks now, Afropop singer Ayodeji Balogun (Wizkid) has been making a compound fool of himself throwing totally unprovoked jabs at his colleague, David Adeleke (Davido). Davido is apparently from a wealthy, distinguished family but he has sought to reinvent himself and while I do not listen to modern music, I must point out that his cheerful, easygoing demeanor and free-giving spirit clearly places him over and above the insular braggart called Wizkid. I formed my opinion of Wizkid in 2015 when he made certain social media posts about the then First Family that no Yoruba-born person would look kindly at, except for partisan considerations. This week, he launched entirely needless attacks on the Governor of Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke, and Davido’s father, Dr. Deji Adeleke. Well, at least Davido’s dad and uncle are famous Nigerians. And Davido is not aging from the mouth like a broom.

The problem with Wizkid, I think, is the money he has made singing exactly nothing. It is difficult for a Yoruba person to listen to his mixture of children’s play-song “Mo nini, mo nini” and incantations “Tan ba leni ni won mamu, ola ni won ma mu” (If they aim to seize today, it is tomorrow they will seize) without disgust. It is pure garbage. But the present generation loves garbage and that’s why these musicians have so much money and no sense. Wizkid says Davido lacks talent when all he does is spout garbage: “Folake, pa kuru mo ko jo dada.” (Folake, grab it, dance it very well). If you have ever listened to people like Ayinla Adegator, Ayinla Omowura or Fela, you can’t help wondering where these modern-day clowns came from.

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