A trial date has been set for Napoli President Aurelien De Laurentiis on the grounds of false accounting in the transfer that brought Victor Osimhen to the club, Soccernet.ng reports.
Napoli paid €76.3m to bring the 2023 CAF Player of the Year from LOSC Lille in 2020, and he scored 76 goals and provided 18 assists in 133 games for the club before joining Galatasaray permanently this summer.
However, an investigation into the striker’s move from LOSC Lille started last month after WhatsApp chats between various figures involved in the agreement were published.
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In the leaked messages, it was confirmed that the Napoli bosses were involved in false accounting over the amount spent on Osimhen.
According to the information from La Repúbblica, Lille proposed that they would sell Osimhen to Napoli for around €50m, but the fee rose, with another €20m+ increase in artificially inflated fees for extra players.
The Tribunal in Rome sought trial for false accounting last month, with prosecutors Lorenzo Del Giudice and Giorgio Ornano having already requested that Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis and CEO Andrea Chiavelli stand trial for alleged false accounting between 2019 and 2021.
Trial date set for Napoli
Away from Osimhen’s transfer, Napoli are also under trial for the deal that brought Kostas Manolas to the club from AS Roma in 2019.
In February, the Roma Public Prosecutor’s Office claimed that “image capital gains” could have been created during the process of the transfers in the club’s financial statements.
The decision of the preliminary hearing to prosecute was met with surprise by the lawyers of the President of Naples, De Laurentiis.
Speaking to the press, lawyers Gaetano Scalise, Fabio Fulgeri and Lorenzo Contrada said the decision was stunning.
As per DGH Digital, the Italian agency ANSA announced that the first hearing of De Laurentiis and Chiavelli’s trial would be held on 2 December 2026.
Napoli have now issued a note, expressing their “bewilderment” at the indictment, stressing that their technical team has unequivocally proven the transparency of the company’s work, both in the accounting management and in the evaluation of transfers.
OFFICIAL CLUB STATEMENT: “SSC Napoli expresses surprise and dismay at the decision by the Rome Preliminary Hearing Judge (GUP) to order the club to stand trial. All technical reports, of the highest level, have unequivocally demonstrated the correctness of the club’s actions,… https://t.co/akivqsF6Os pic.twitter.com/eGbJBlhILY
— Napoli Zone (@TheNapoliZone) November 20, 2025
De Laurentiis’ lawyer, Fabio Fulgerio, on Radio DRC, as revealed by Lafontesportiva Italy, commented on the indictment of his client regarding the false budget concerning the transfers of Manos and Osimhen
“We are very disappointed with the decision of the GUP. We were confident that the evidence brought to the attention of the judge was quite clear and that the same would help in our defence.
“The evaluation of the sports justice was different in Naples. Inter bought a couple of Roma players, but the prosecutors in Milan demanded the filing and concluded there were no irregularities. Napoli didn’t have the same luck and the same fate.
“I’m sure we’ll come out on top. Roma are being investigated, even though Atalanta were acquitted, despite both of us being investigated for the same thing.
“I believe in the good faith of the magistrates, and I think we should all believe it.
“President De Laurentiis took it peacefully because the indictment is among the possibilities of the trial.
“Many may think the President is guilty, but no one has been convicted. The process is just about to begin, but we’re confident the result will be positive,” Mr Fulgerio concluded.
While a trial is set to ensue, it appears Osimhen wasn’t fully aware of the details of the contract that took him from France to Naples, as he was still mourning his father’s death.
