Insisting that they ‘never intended to insult’ their star striker, Napoli has refused to apologize for their contentious social media post that appeared to make fun of Victor Osimhen.
This week, the Serie club team made headlines when they posted videos on their TikTok account insulting Osimhen, which prompted a legal threat from the latter’s agency.
The 24-year-old was shown in the first video asking for a penalty and then taking a wide shot with sped-up audio that read, “Gimme penalty please.”
In a second video posted by the club, Osimhen was compared to a “coconut,” which is considered to be offensive.
In a statement on Thursday, Napoli broke their silence as they said: ‘Calcio Napoli, wishing to avoid any exploitation of the issue, point out that we never wanted to offend or mock Victor Osimhen, who is a treasure of this club.’
The club also mentioned how they had rejected several transfer offers for the forward during the summer window.
‘As proof of that, during the summer training retreat, the Club firmly rebuffed every offer that was received for the striker’s transfer abroad.
‘Social media, in particular, TikTok, has always used an expressive form of language with a light heart and creativity, without wanting to, as in the case with Osimhen as the protagonist, have any intention of insult or derision.
‘In any case, if Victor perceived any offence towards him, this was not what the club intended.’
