Nigeria and Napoli striker reflects on the winding journey towards fronting his country’s tilt at a fourth Africa Cup of Nations title
Victor Osimhen is the African Footballer of the Year and plays a major role in Nigeria’s quest for a fourth African Cup of Nations title in Ivory Coast, but his football career may have gone very, very wrong.
The striker won a Serie A title with Napoli and was the first African to be the league’s most level-headed goalscorer, but Osimhen’s early European career almost ended before it had even begun.
His move to Wolfsburg in 2017, after winning the title with Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets at the U-17 World Cup in Chile in 2015, went according to plan. He failed to break into the sideline, leaving him desperate and frustrated.
“There was a moment when I spoke to my old agent and told him that I was in a position to move to a third or fourth division club in Germany, because all I was looking for was to play. . . My whole life has been a struggle, but I’ve come out victorious,” he told The Guardian.
“Whatever bad things happened there, I take full responsibility for it. It was my decision to go to Wolfsburg, to try to improve, because I knew that I was still a work in progress after the World Cup in Chile. I had Mario Gómez there, Divock Origi too. I had to learn from these people … I was rejected by two clubs in Belgium before I had the opportunity to sign for Charleroi on loan.
“I can’t lie: at first it’s exhausting. I’m the best scorer at the U-17 World Cup and I was selected as the second most productive player in the tournament [but then I saw] the decline of my career and heard other people say all kinds of things . . . of [negative] things about me. . . I know the type of player I am and the quality I have. I knew that one season would replace my life forever.
“It was my move to Belgium, to Charleroi [in 2018], that was the turning point of my life. I owe my good luck to the president of the club and to the people of Charlere who put their love and accepted it as true. with a 19-year-old boy looking to make his mark.
At Napoli, where his football has been played since 2020 after an exceptional season at Lille, he has metamorphosed into a ruthless predator who is now the target of the world’s most sensible clubs.
“There were a lot of high expectations when I came to Napoli but I had a series of injuries and then Covid set in. But the people never gave up on me. A lot of them cheered me up, sending me messages, sending me flowers … They showed me a lot of love. Helping them to win the Scudetto is something I am grateful to God for, because I was able to repay the trust that they had in me … It’s an honour to play at the Maradona Stadium and hear them chant my name every time I score.”
Leaving southern Italy in search of new pastures is part of his plans at the moment. “I have to respect my contract,” he says. Whatever happens this summer, everyone will know about it. For now, I’m in Afcon and that’s my goal.
But Osimhen is only about football. Growing up in Olusosun, a domain on the outskirts of Lagos, Nigeria’s most populous city, he is acutely aware of the biting nature of generational poverty.
“Olusosun is a small network near a landfill. Most of the time, other people go to the landfill to collect valuables in exchange for cash and resell them. I’d go there and buy some old boots that I can play with. That’s the culture of many of us on the net. I also used to sell bottled water on the streets of Lapasss, to help my family make a living.
“I knew football was the only way to lift them out of poverty, so I invested my time and life in this work. I’m glad it was worth it. Lifting my circle of family members out of poverty is my greatest victory.
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Crossing paths with Emmanuel Amuneke, the former Sporting Lisbon and Barcelona player, who was the head coach of the Nigeria team that won the 2015 Under-17 World Cup, was a career-defining moment for Osimhen.
“I met Osimhen in 2014 in Abuja, when we were looking for players to see who would be smart enough to set up Nigeria in Chile,” says Amuneke. “When Osimhen was first given his turn, I have to admit that at first I didn’t give him my full attention as I prepared the next player organization to examine. But my backstage team came up to me and said, “Coach, this guy, in the green long-sleeved shirt, can play. . . “
“I gave him another chance to play the next set and then I took my time watching him. I liked his hunger, his determination, his aggressiveness. . . Then I asked one of my classmates to write down his name. That’s how he chose it and tried to enlarge it, to make it more precise, in its movements and movements. I’m pleased to see what Osimhen has become,” said Amuneke, who was voted African Footballer of the Year in 1994.
Super Eagles enthusiasts see Osimhen as the successor to the legendary Rashidi Yekini, Nigeria’s last record scorer whose prolific thirteen-goal total at Afcon is matched by Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o and Ivory Coast’s Laurent Pokou. And the Napoli striker is well aware of what he wants to do.
“Yekini is the most influential striker the Super Eagles have ever had,” says Osimhen. “He encouraged many of us who have risen through the ranks. It encouraged us to the goal that it was. He’s the leader and that’s what he’s made for. “The Super Eagles is unimaginable. Hopefully I can do it.
For now, though, Osimhen’s priority is for Nigeria to win their fourth AFCON title. They qualified for the round of 16 after Monday’s 1-0 win over Guinea-Bissau secured them second place in Group A.
“I want to win something with this great squad. I want to give Nigerians something that they will remember. I’m giving everything to come home with the trophy.”