Real Madrid manager, Carlo Ancelotti has explained why the club decided not to sign Nigeria international, Victor Osimhen last summer.
Osimhen was linked with a number of top European teams last summer following a superlative outing for Napoli. At the same time, Real Madrid lost their talismanic forward, Karim Benzema, who left the club for Saudi outfit, Al Ittihad.
Ancelotti told Radio Serie A signing Jude Bellingham instead of the Super Eagles star, was seen as a better compensation for Benzema’s departure.
In response to a question, the 65-year-old Italian said: “No (we didn’t sign Osimhen) because I think the club thought that Benzema’s absence could be remedied by purchasing (Jude) Bellingham.”
In other sports news…
Former Manchester City forward, Sergio Aguero has claimed that Lionel Messi chose to join Inter Miami over moving to Saudi Arabia because of his family’s convenience.
Messi moved to Inter Miami from Paris Saint-Germain in July 2023 after rejecting a world-record contract from Saudi Arabian club, Al Hilal.
Aguero told Stake that the 37-year-old Argentina captain may have been tired of high-level football and thus decided to join the American club, where he can play and relax.
He said; “I think that at the end of this stage, with the age that Leo [Lionel Messi] and Cristiano are, and many players aged 32 and 33, maybe they are tired of so much demand to be at a high level.
“I think that Leo opted for him and his family to be well and to be able to play as relaxed as possible; and in the other case if he had been playing in Europe, obviously that the requirement is different and so he can’t play his last years the way he wanted, which is to enjoy, right?
“And obviously, I think that between Miami and Arabia, I think he chose Miami for convenience. Miami is a nice place, there are lots of Latinos, and I think he also saw it from the family side, which I think they can fit quite well in Miami, and in Arabia it can be more complicated, right? I think he saw nothing more than that”.