“He was the hero, now all he has left is money.” This is the title of an article in today’s edition of The Courier of Sport on theme Victor Osimhenwho in the space of a few months went from being the hero of the third Scudetto to being an extra luxury player for the Azzurri squad after seeing possible transfers in the final hours of the transfer market fall through, which could have led to him wearing the shirts of Chelsea or Al Ahli.
“Satisfaction comes at the end of the day,” reads the opening of the piece, signed by Massimiliano Gallo, “when you get up from the table and wearily write on the blackboard, in capital letters, the figure 30,136.” This number referred to alludes to Osimhen’s net salary per day, which in a year amounts to approximately 11 million euros net. From eighth place in the Ballon d’Or he is turning into a creature from a tale by Soriano or Dickensan unemployed luxury that nobody wants, someone who at 25 is forced to live on memories, according to the descriptions made by the author of the piece.
Now Victor is still a hero, but for “those who delude themselves that a life without stress can exist. From winning the Superenalotto”. In the meantime, however, the Napoli fan children go to bed dreaming of the exploits of their new hero, that Romelu Lukaku arrived – also because of his opposite number – with the air of a gentle giant. The Belgian is the hero with the cape. “The previous one retired at just 25. Overpaid for not working. Dad, what was his name?”, concludes the article.