This week, daredevil striker Victor Osimhen delivered by far the biggest boost yet for the Super Eagles leading up to next month’s AFCON in Cameroon when he declared he will feature at the tournament.
The availability of the Napoli star striker has been in doubt for several weeks after he suffered facial fractures that needed surgery with his Italian club even announcing he will be out for as long as three months.
Osimhen has in the last two years emerged as the Eagles proven scorer – he finished as the team’s top scorer in the 2021 AFCON qualifiers with five goals and he is also leading the team with four goals in the 2022 World Cup qualifying series.
He has now netted 10 goals in 18 appearances for the Super Eagles.
Besides his goals, his all-action style and never-say-die attitude have endeared him to many millions of fans in Nigeria and beyond.
Eagles caretaker coach Austin Eguavoen has already admitted that Osimhen “brings a lot to the team”.
The striker and Leicester City midfielder Wilfred Ndidi are the genuine top-class players in the Eagles today.
He is therefore without a doubt the poster boy of the Super Eagles just two years after he could only play a bit role at the 2019 AFCON in Egypt, where Nigeria again finished third.
Expectations are therefore sky-high that his goals and a winner’s mentality could lift the underachieving Super Eagles to only their fourth AFCON conquest in Cameroon.
He most certainly has a load of pressures to deal with.
Napoli, for one, have made it very clear they do not wish to release their most prized asset for the AFCON.
They have invested heavily on the 22-year-old striker, from his record signing to his annual salary of five Million Euros, and now they hope he could fire them to their first Scudetto in 21 years.
Before the injury, he had scored five goals in Serie A and four in the UEFA Europa League.
Such is Napoli desperation to hold him back for their championship challenge that their lawyers are even exploring the possibilities of getting the courts to stop him from honouring Nigeria’s call-up to the AFCON.
It must also be pointed out that he is still a long way off from full recovery having last played a match on November 21 at Inter Milan, where he suffered his latest injury setback.
He will have to be fully fit to be at his Rambo-best against uncompromising defenders at the AFCON.
However, Osimhen is one player who has thrived against all odds, from his very humble beginnings in Lagos, rejection at German Bundesliga club Wolfsburg to setting a new record at the 2015 FIFA U17 World Cup in Chile.
If there were one player in the Super Eagles who can shoulder the weight of expectations and shut out even the never-ending madness around the team and still shine in Cameroon, it will be “Coconut head” Osimhen.
