Victor Osimhen came off the bench to score a towering header on Saturday as Napoli beat Lecce 4-0.
It comes amid uncertainty over the striker’s future at Napoli after he was mocked by his club’s TikTok account.
Osimhen’s agent threatened legal action after the club posted a video that showed the 24-year-old appealing for a penalty during a 0-0 draw against Bologna, with sped-up audio captioned ‘Gimme penalty please’ before showing him blazing the spot-kick wide of the post.
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.’
Napoli striker Victor Osimhen scored off the bench in their 4-0 win over Lecce on Saturday
The 24-year-old’s future at the club is uncertain after he was mocked by their social media
Manager Rudi Garcia said the incident was not the reason for his star striker’s omission from the starting side against Lecce, insisting he was left out for squad rotation reasons.
‘The lads know they must be fully concentrated on this match, because it is already a few days after the last game and it is played under the sun and heat.
‘This is no friendly, Lecce have had a great start to the season and we must be at 100 per cent physically and mentally to get a result,’ he told DAZN before the match.
‘There has to be squad rotation, it is almost a third of the team that changed since the game with Udinese, so it’s natural to look to everyone, including those who come off the bench.’
The manager would not be drawn on the TikTok situation and simply said it would ‘sort itself out.’
Osimhen did not appear to celebrate his goal against Lecce, which put Napoli 2-0 up shortly after half time, but did clap the away fans after full time.
He was similarly unmoved after scoring in Napoli’s 4-1 win against Udinese, although he did shake hands with Garcia as he left the pitch.
According to reports from Italy, this interaction between the manager and his star striker represents an armistice which could last until a potential departure in January.
Aside from concerns over Osimhen, Napoli have made a solid start to their Scudetto defence and sit third in the league after seven games.
They will next be in action in the Champions League, with Real Madrid travelling to Southern Italy on Tuesday.
Osimhen’s agent threatened legal action following videos on Napoli’s TikTok account
Rudi Garcia said the scandal regarding Napoli’s TikTok posts will take care of itself
