The Azzurri host Udinese: high tension between the attacker and the club
Will Victor Osimhen be a starter today in Napoli-Udinese? The match on the sixth day of the 2023-2024 Serie A, scheduled for 8.45pm, is linked to the question mark next to the name of the Nigerian center forward. Relations between the player and the club, after a summer ‘seasoned’ with rumors about Saudi Arabia and his possible departure, seem to be at their lowest levels after the storm over a video, if not two, which appeared on Napoli’s TikTok profile.
Napoli-Udinese, the lineups and the Osimhen puzzle
Waiting to understand if Osimhen will be used, after the call-up, Here are the probable lineups:
NAPLES (4-3-3): Meret; Di Lorenzo, Ostigard, Natan, Mario Rui; Anguissa, Lobotka, Zielinski; Politano, Osimhen, Kvaratskhelia. Coach: Garcia. Available: Contini, Idasiak, Zanoli, Olivera, Elmas, Gaetano, Cajuste, Zerbin, Simeone, Lindstrom, Raspadori.
UDINESE (3-5-2): Silvestri; Perez, Bijol, Kristensen; Ebosele, Samardzic, Walace, Lovric, Kamara; Success, Lucca. Coach: Sottil. Available: Okoye, Malusà, Guessand, Ferreira, Camara, Zarraga, Thauvin, Aké, Pafundi.
Video Osimhen, what happened
The company published and then removed a video which was ironic about the penalty Osimhen won and missed in the 0-0 draw in Bologna last Sunday. In the clip, the center forward is paired with a ‘cartoon-like’ voice: Osimhen asks for the penalty, gets it and misses it. Another video bounces on social media in which the Nigerian attacker is the backdrop to a refrain that compares him to a coconut. This would be a trend (#coconut) in vogue these days on Chinese social media. It consists of combining your images with the song “I’m a coconut” via the platform’s video editing app. There is enough for the vehement reaction of the player’s agent, Roberto Calenda.
“What happened on Napoli’s official profile on the TikTok platform is not acceptable. A video mocking Victor was first made public and then, but now belatedly, deleted”, writes the player’s agent on X. “A serious fact that causes very serious damage to the player and adds to the treatment that the boy is undergoing in the last period between media trials and fake news. We reserve the right to take legal action and any useful initiative to protect Victor Osimhen”, concludes Calenda. As if that were not enough, the player sends a clear signal: practically all the photos wearing the Napoli shirt disappear from his Instagram profile.
Napoli-Udinese, exam for Rudi Garcia
The new Osimhen case explodes in an already complicated moment for Napoli between the pitch and the club. The focus is above all on coach Rudi Garcia, who is struggling to manage Luciano Spalletti’s legacy. The French coach is already far from league leaders Inter and does not seem to have managed so far to build a solid and profitable relationship with the superstars. In Bologna, Osimhen blatantly complained about the substitution he suffered but his protest was not punished with a fine: the case, at least this one, was resolved diplomatically. In Genoa, in another match without a win, it was Kvicha Kvaratskhelia who expressed his doubts about leaving the pitch early.
Source-www.adnkronos.com