Fenerbahce manager Jose Mourinho says Galatasaray beat Chelsea to an ‘absolutely fantastic player’ in Victor Osimhen but does not like the way the striker ‘behaves’, accusing him of ‘diving too much’.
Osimhen’s future was the subject of intense speculation throughout the transfer window, with the likes of Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Saudi Pro League outfit Al-Ahli all credited with a strong interest in the 25-year-old.
Al-Ahli appeared on the cusp of landing Osimhen after reaching a €80 million (£67.3m) agreement with Napoli, only for the Nigeria international to turn down a switch to Saudi Arabia.
According to John Obi Mikel, Chelsea also had a deal in place for Osimhen, agreeing personal terms for the forward, before a proposed transfer to Stamford Bridge collapsed over ‘minor details’.
Osimhen went on to secure a season-long loan to Galatasaray and the prolific attacker is in line to make his debut for the club at home to Rizespor this weekend.
The former Lille star will also have one eye on Galatasaray’s eagerly anticipated clash with bitter rivals Fenerbahce later this month, which will see him once again go toe to toe with Mourinho.
‘Osimhen is a fantastic player,’ the self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ said in a wide-ranging interview with HT Spor.
‘He is a player that if I was in a club with the potential to pay 70 to 75 million, I would buy. He’s a fantastic player,’
‘Of course, he comes in different circumstances but in the end the circumstances don’t matter.
‘What matters is Galatasaray got an absolutely fantastic player.’
While Mourinho is a huge admirer of Osimhen’s ability, he does not appreciate the striker’s playacting – and told him as much they last came face to face.
‘I don’t have problems with Victor. In fact, we have a very good relationship,’ the Portuguese added.
‘But every time I play against him I speak with him because I don’t like the way he behaves, he dives too much. The last time we played, Roma against Napoli, we had this conversation.
‘I told him, “Look, you are one of the two best African players – it’s you and [Mohamed] Salah. In the past Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto’o, George Weah, you cannot behave like this”.
‘He dives too much, that’s my problem with him. But after ten minutes, we are fine. We have a very good relationship.
‘For the Turkish league it is fantastic and for Galatasaray it is fantastic too.’
Osimhen said it was a ‘very easy decision’ to push through a temporary switch to Galatasaray when it became clear they were keen to sign him in the summer.
‘When I heard of the interest from Galatasaray, it was a very easy decision for me,’ he told Turkish media.
‘I knew how big Galatasaray was and how much like a family it was, and it had incredible fans.
‘Henry Onyekuru is my friend and he played for Galatasaray before and is still a fan. He told me how wonderful the people here are, so it was an easy decision for me.’
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