Romelu Lukaku has rejected the opportunity to take Victor Osimhen’s no.9 shirt after joining Napoli at the end of the summer transfer window, despite the club having told him that he was free to do so.
Recall that Osimhen was removed from Napoli’s Serie A squad at the start of the weekend after a move away from the club collapsed in spectacular fashion on deadline day.
A short-lived update on the Serie A website had Lukaku down as Napoli’s new number nine, but he then turned out against Parma wearing the no.11 instead.
Reports from Il Mattino and Tuttonapoli on Monday claim that Lukaku refused Napoli’s offer of taking the no.9 shirt as a show of respect for Osimhen. The feeling was that even though he is not part of the Serie A squad, the no.9 jersey still belongs to the Nigeria international.
Lukaku got off to a flying start in his Partenopei career, coming off the bench to score a 92nd minute equaliser against Parma, which gave Napoli a boost ahead of Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa’s 96th minute winner.