Victor Osimhen will not let his Premier League ambitions prove a distraction to short-term objectives of firing Napoli to a Serie A and Champions League double.
The Nigerian striker has been linked with clubs including Chelsea and Manchester United, after hitting 19 goals in 20 Serie A games this season.
Napoli are charging towards a first Scudetto since 1990 and Osimhen's goals have been crucial, drawing plenty of interest from Europe's richest clubs.
He has two years remaining on his Napoli contract, but England appeals.
Now is not the time to be thinking about a move, though, with Osimhen wanting to focus on success at home and in Europe, with Napoli close to securing a Champions League quarter-final spot.
Winning 2-0 at Eintracht Frankfurt in the first leg of their last-16 tie means Napoli are on the charge in that competition too.
Asked about the Premier League, Osimhen said: "I think it is an ambition of all players. And who knows, one day...
"Right now, I assure you, it doesn't even cross my mind. It would distract me from a beautiful season. Only Napoli."
Speaking to the Corriere della Sera newspaper, Osimhen spoke of his blossoming attacking partnership with Georgian Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
Osimhen spoke of there being "empathy from the first moment" between the pair, with Kvaratskhelia having joined last July from Dinamo Batumi.
"He is very strong, but also a golden boy. This matters to me," said the 24-year-old Osimhen.
Napoli hold an 18-point lead over Inter and Milan with 14 rounds of games remaining, meaning it would take a spectacular collapse for them not to hang on to top spot.
They finished third last season, behind the San Siro duo, but the Naples giants are having it all their own way this time around.
According to Osimhen, this title assault stemmed from a conversation he had with midfielder Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa in pre-season, which was joined by coach Luciano Spalletti.
"There is a preserved photo that testifies to the moment," Osimhen said. "It was summer and after a fairly hard training session I was talking to Anguissa.
"I said to him: 'Frank, you know that our team is strong and we can really try to win the Scudetto.'
"He was sceptical and I convinced him. Spalletti approaches and asks us what we are talking about. I tell him, he looks at me and says: 'If your team-mates are convinced, as you are, yes we can try.'
"This is how our beautiful story was born, made up of matches, training sessions, men who don't spare themselves. Made of leaders."
Sheffield Wednesday hit a new low as Sunderland ease to victory at Hillsborough
Sheffield Wednesday have now made the joint-worst start after nine games in Championship history after Sunderland beat them 3-0 at Hillsborough on Friday night.
A Dan Ballard header and two Jack Clarke goals, one a penalty, had the Black Cats in cruise control before half-time.
Wednesday are a club in disarray off the field, with chairman Dejphon Chansiri releasing a statement earlier in the day stating he would be putting no additional money into the club.
Owls boss Xisco Munoz made two changes to the team that lost 3-0 at Swansea, with George Byers and Callum Paterson joining the starting XI.
Sunderland manager Tony Mowbray made just the one switch after the 1-0 defeat at home to Cardiff, with Patrick Roberts coming in for Abdoullah Ba.
The first two chances of the game brought goals for the away side.
First, Ballard rose highest to meet Alex Pritchard’s corner after five minutes and just three minutes later Sunderland doubled their advantage when Clarke drove towards goal from the left and arrowed a beauty into the bottom corner.
On-loan Wednesday man John Buckley had a go from outside the box but his effort was put past the post by goalkeeper Anthony Patterson, then Anthony Musaba chanced his arm moments later but saw his curling attempt fly over the bar.
The third goal came in the 31st minute after Bambo Diaby brought down Mason Burstow in the box. Clarke stepped up to send Devis Vasquez the wrong way – it was the Championship top scorer’s second of the night and seventh of the season, six of them coming away from the Stadium of Light.
Home fans who had not already headed for the exits chanted for both manager and chairman to leave the club.
In the second half, Pol Valentin made a mazy run down the right-hand side and his cross found Paterson, who saw his shot saved by keeper Patterson.
Jobe Bellingham nearly made it four but his effort from distance went just wide.
Despite bringing on forwards Ashley Fletcher and Djeidi Gassama in the closing stages, Sunderland comfortably dealt with the majority of Wednesday’s attacks for the remainder of the game, having done the damage in the first 30 minutes.
The result lifts the Wearsiders to fourth ahead of Saturday’s fixtures, while Wednesday remain bottom, with just two points from their opening nine games.
Five-star Hamilton too hot for Annan
Hamilton thumped Annan 5-0 to continue their push for an immediate return to the Scottish Championship.
Accies have now won seven of their eight League One matches and needed only two minutes to make the breakthrough here, Jamie Barjonas running on from midfield and firing in a shot from the edge of the box.
It took until three minutes into the second half for Hamilton to score their second, Reghan Tumilty netting from a corner, and 10 minutes later Euan Henderson smashed in a third.
It was all too easy for the hosts, and they scored twice more through Connor Murray and Joe McGlynn, while Michael Hewitt was denied a sixth by the post.
Roberto D’Aversa warns Lecce will face ‘the complete team’ in champions Napoli
Lecce manager Roberto D’Aversa will prepare his squad to face the “complete team” when Napoli come to the Stadio Via del Mare.
Napoli eased the pressure on under-fire boss Rudi Garcia with a 4-1 win over Udinese on Wednesday night, which puts the Serie A champions fifth in the table heading into the next round of fixtures.
Speculation over Garcia’s future, though, continues, with the French coach having ducked recent media duties amid reports of unrest within the camp and a bizarre video on TikTok which seemingly mocked striker Victor Osimhen following his penalty miss against Bologna.
View this post on Instagram
D’Aversa, though, is expecting nothing less than the sternest of tests from the Partenopei in Saturday’s afternoon kick-off.
“If I have to list them all (Napoli’s strengths), we would never end,” the Lecce boss told a press conference.
“They are Italian champions, they have a complete team with capable and quality players – Osimhen attacks from deep and is one of the best in Europe.
“On our part, there must be the will to put in a great performance.”
Lecce sit just a place behind Napoli, level on points, after losing their first Serie A game this season 1-0 at Juventus on Tuesday night.
D’Aversa will be without midfielder Mohamed Kaba through suspension after his late sending off and is set to rotate the squad.
“When there are three games a week you have to look for the player’s performance,” he said.
“In Turin, we didn’t have any turnover. We need to pay more attention to certain situations.
“(Lorenzo) Venuti and (Remi) Oudin are starters for me. It is clear that, where possible, there will be some changes tomorrow.”
Reports in Italy suggest Osimhen will not not pursue legal action against Napoli following the TikTok video.
After they face Lecce, Napoli host Real Madrid in the Champions League next week.
Forward Giovanni Simeone was on the scoresheet against Udinese and feels the squad can reset and push on into the season.
“Let’s start again from this victory,” the Argentinian said, quoted on the club’s official website. “We have worked a lot and collected little so far, but we know our value.
“We are a strong and united group. We are aware that two seasons cannot be repeated the same, but we are also sure that we have the spirit, mentality and quality to continue to be protagonists.”
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
