ISTANBUL (AP) — Victor Osimhen appears to have finally found a way out of Napoli, opening negotiations for a loan deal with Turkish club Galatasaray.
The Nigeria forward had been linked to Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Saudi club Al-Ahli in recent weeks and months but the transfer window in Europe's biggest leagues closed last week without a deal for him.
The Turkish league transfer window doesn't close until Sept. 13 and Galatasary suddenly needs help at center forward following an injury to Mauro Icardi.
“The player and his club SSCN Napoli SPA have begun official talks regarding the temporary transfer of professional footballer Victor James Osimhen.,” Galatasaray posted on Instagram late Monday.
Osimhen scored 26 goals when Napoli won Serie A in 2023, but he has also consistently been slowed by injuries throughout his career.
Osimhen hasn't been training with Napoli, which had already replaced him by signing Romelu Lukaku from Chelsea — reuniting the Belgium striker with coach Antonio Conte after the pair won Serie A at Inter Milan.
At 25, Osimhen still has a lot of years left to play top-level soccer. Known for his aerial prowess and face mask, he has scored a total of 76 goals in 133 matches across all competitions for Napoli since joining in a club-record 70 million euro transfer ($77 million) four years ago.
Osimhen grew frustrated last season when Napoli finished 10th during its title defense — a campaign in which he scored 15 Serie A goals.
At Galatasaray, Osimhen would be reunited with Napoli's all-time leading scorer Dries Mertens.
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FILE - SS Napoli striker Victor Osimhen, right, arrives with team President Aurelio De Laurentiis, at the Foreign Press club to receive the "Best Foreign Athlete of the Year" award, in Rome, Monday, March 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
FILE - Napoli's Victor Osimhen, left, attempts to block Inter's Francesco Acerbi as Acerbi kicks the ball during a Serie A soccer match between Napoli and Inter at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona stadium, Naples, Italy, Sunday Dec. 3, 2023. (Alessandro Garofalo/LaPresse via AP, File)
NICE, France (AP) — At least eight people died during a failed attempt to cross the English Channel from northern France, French maritime authorities said Sunday.
The incident occurred Saturday just before midnight when authorities spotted a boat, carrying dozens, in distress near a beach in the northern town of Ambleteuse.
A French rescue ship was deployed to the area, but could not offer assistance at sea. Once the vessel reached the beach, rescue services offered medical assistance to 53 migrants, a statement from the French maritime authorities in charge of the Channel and the North Sea said.
“Despite the emergency care provided, eight people have died,” the statement said.
No people were discovered during the search at sea, it added.
Six people were taken to hospitals in Boulogne and Calais “in relative emergency,” including a 10-month-old baby with hypothermia, Jacques Billant, the Pas-de-Calais prefect, told French media on Sunday. He said survivors of the accident come from Eritrea, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt and Iran.
The deceased were all male adults, Billant said.
Survivors of the tragedy have been taken to the sports hall in Ambleteuse, according to a statement from the prefecture of Pas-de-Calais region. Prosecutor's office in Boulogne-sur-mer has opened an investigation into the accident.
The incident Saturday occurred nearly two weeks after a boat carrying migrants ripped apart in the English Channel as they attempted to reach Britain from northern France, plunging dozens into the treacherous waterway and leaving 12 dead.
British officials were quick to express sadness over another English Channel incident.
“It’s awful,’’ Foreign Secretary David Lammy told the BBC. “It’s a further loss of life.”
The new Labour Party government has pledged to crack down on criminal gangs plying the migrant boats trade in the channel and had discussed with European partners “how we go after those gangs, in co-operation upstream.’’
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will be in Italy on Monday for talks with counterpart Giorgia Meloni about her efforts to tackle the problem “and the work they have done, particularly, with Albania.’’
Starmer is interested in the policy, under which Tirana will accept asylum seekers on Italy’s behalf while their claims are processed.
Europe’s increasingly strict asylum rules, growing xenophobia and hostile treatment of migrants have been pushing them north. Before Saturday’s accident, at least 43 migrants had died or gone missing while trying to cross to the U.K. this year, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Other surveillance and rescue operations are underway Sunday along the entire Pas-de-Calais coast amid stormy weather conditions and agitated sea, French maritime authorities said. They warned anyone who tries to cross the Channel on flimsy and overloaded boats and in often difficult weather conditions of “significant risks.”
On Saturday, French coast guard and navy vessels rescued 200 people from the treacherous waters in the Pas-de-Calais area, according to a report sent by French maritime authorities in charge of the Channel and the North Sea.
The French coast guard and other naval services have rescued people from four different boats, one carrying 61 and the other 55 people. The other two boats carried 48 and 36 people each, authorities said.
They said they observed 18 attempts of boat departures from France to Britain on Saturday.
In July, four migrants died while attempting the crossing on an inflatable boat that capsized and punctured. Five others, including a child, died in another attempt in April. Five dead were recovered from the sea or found washed up along a beach after a migrant boat ran into difficulties in the dark and winter cold of January.
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Associated Press journalist Danica Kirka in London contributed to this report.
FILE - A boat thought to be with migrants is escorted by a vessel from the French Gendarmerie Nationale off the Wimereux beach, France, Sept. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Nicholas Garriga, File)
FILE - A vessel of the French Gendarmerie Nationale patrols in front of the Wimereux beach, France, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Nicholas Garriga, File)
A least 8 people have died trying to cross the English Channel, French authorities say
A least 8 people have died trying to cross the English Channel, French authorities say
FILE - A view of one of the vessels from the French Gendarmerie Nationale in the port of Boulogne-Sur-Mer, France, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, after participating in the rescue operation after a boat carrying migrants ripped apart attempting to cross the English Channel. (AP Photo/Nicolas Garriga, File)
