Napoli president De Laurentiis to stand trial over alleged false accounting in Manolas & Osimhen deals

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has been formally sent to trial by the Rome preliminary hearings judge (GUP) on charges of false accounting linked to the club’s financial statements for the 2019, 2020 and 2021 seasons. Also sent to trial are his long-time associate Andrea Chiavelli and the club itself.

The case centres on alleged inflated capital gains (plusvalenze) connected to two major transfers: the 2019 signing of Kostas Manolas from Roma, and the 2020 deal that brought Victor Osimhen to Naples from Lille, according to the latest reports via Tuttosport.

In the Manolas operation, Napoli included midfielder Amadou Diawara as part of the exchange. A year later, the Osimhen transfer involved goalkeeper Orestis Karnezis and three Primavera players, Manzi, Palmieri and Liguori, whose valuations, according to prosecutors, were artificially inflated to improve Napoli’s financial position.

The trial is scheduled to begin on 2 December 2026.

Importantly, Napoli do not face any sporting sanctions. FIGC prosecutor Giuseppe Chinè reviewed the matter in 2022 and closed the sporting investigation, meaning the club’s league status and points total are unaffected.

De Laurentiis’ legal team expressed strong criticism of the decision, calling the indictment “surprising” and arguing the case should have been dismissed. “We are absolutely astonished,” said lawyers Gaetano Scalise, Fabio Fulgeri and Lorenzo Contrada. “There were clear grounds to acquit the defendants. The Guardia di Finanza misapplied accounting principles, and even the public prosecutors stated that Napoli did not obtain any advantage from these operations.”

They added that Italy’s preliminary hearing system “has become an unnecessary step” and argued that more transparent reasoning is needed for decisions to send cases to trial.