Barcelona missed out on signing Super Eagles forward, Victor Osimhen as replacement for Luis Suarez, according to Roberto Calenda, a member of the management team that represents the Nigerian.

The 21-year old penned a five-year deal worth €80 million from Lille to become the most expensive player in the history of the Italian club.

Barcelona’s new manager, Ronald Koeman has already told Suarez to look for another club and the Blaugrana were ready to bid for the Osimhen after monitoring him for a longtime but Napoli beat them to the chase.

“I usually never talk about these things, out of respect for professionalism and the club. It is right that Napoli say things as they went, they are the main players,” Calenda told Radio Marte.

“I can say that it was a well-conducted negotiation by the parties, we started from a distance. The signing took place with constant communication and were good at keeping track of it.

“[It was a] difficult operation, Tottenham and Liverpool wanted Osimhen until the end, even Barcelona initially wanted him instead of Suarez. Napoli, however, did everything. They wanted it and took it.”

Osimhen netted 18 goals for Lille last season and began his Napoli career with a hat-trick during an 11-0 friendly win over Italian fourth division side L’Aquila during a training camp at Castel di Sangro last Friday.

source:- sportbible