Napoli have refused to apologise for their controversial social media post which appeared to mock Victor Osimnhen, insisting they ‘never intended to offend’ their star striker.
The Serie club side sparked controversy this week when they posted videos on their TikTok account mocking Osimhen, leading to his agent threatening to take legal action.
The first video posted showed the 24-year-old appealing for a penalty, with sped-up audio captioned ‘Gimme penalty please’ before showing him taking a spot-kick wide.
A second video from the club’s account compared Osimhen to a ‘coconut’ which is viewed as a racial slur.
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.’