Victor Osimhen is the new poster boy of Nigeria football and deservedly so.
From scoring a bucketful of goals in France for Lille to emerging as the most expensive African footballer ever, the all-action striker came into his own in 2020.
The story of this former Golden Eaglets record scorer could well be documented in a box office-smashing movie despite many more years left on his career for the producers of such grass-to-grace script to smile all the way to the bank.
It’s interesting to note that just a few years ago, he was struggling for relevance at German Bundesliga side Wolfsburg, relaunching his career in Belgium with Charleroi and then to go on to become one of the most sought after strikers in world football is just awesome.
He was the undisputed best player in 2020 of Nigeria as 2020 belonged to him in terms of overall performance and records.
Lille’s loss is Napoli’s monumental gain as their €81 million investment including performance add-ons continue to appear to be worth it even though a few burst ups bordering on discipline and injuries have not helped.
Osimhen scored 13 Ligue 1 goals at Lille to spark interests from top spenders and after long- drawn contract talks, Napoli finally won the battle for his signature.
Though, he is yet to match his superb impressive goal record at Lille – 2 goals in 6 Serie A appearances – his promise, will power, confidence and assists at his new club have not gone unnoticed.
He continued his impressive run with the Super Eagles with a well-taken goal against Sierra Leone in an AFCON qualifier in November, but a shoulder injury in that 4-4 thriller has sidelined him longer than expected.
His comeback has been further delayed by a Coronavirus positive result after his reckless indiscretions at a party in Lagos.
He has since apologised as the world of football awaits his return.
