Investigating that Chukwueze to Napoli rumor

Cards completely on the table, it’s a slow news day so far, so I decided to dig up the Samu Chukwueze to Napoli rumor from a couple days ago to figure out what source it came from and why. This thing doesn’t seem to have any legs, but I am always looking to test out new media outlets in different countries to see if they do their business in a way that I might come back to them later.

The source is Le Bombe di Vlad in Italy, which I’d never heard of. They mention a price of around 30m, which honestly sounds about right to me in the current market given how unproven Samu still is.

The thing is, though, I still don’t think this rumor has any serious credibility. First of all, in three days since it was posted, it has not gained any additional steam. Second, its appearance coincided with Victor Osimhen getting a big move to Napoli from Lille.

Samu and Victor are the same age and both Nigerian. They’re friends. What it seems happened is they saw Napoli buy Osimhen and said “who would he like to play with” and spun a rumor. This sort of thing isn’t uncommon in the world of transfer rumors and it’s kind of a hassle deciding which ones have legitimacy and which ones don’t.

At any rate, I don’t really see Napoli having the funds to pull this off. I don’t think selling Samu is out of the question this summer, and it might actually be a good move for the club if it improves the quality of defender and midfielders we can add. Nothing to be alarmed about here, but don’t be surprised if the next Samu rumor has a little bit more force to it.