Despite not winning AFCON, Osimhen still deserves his flowers 

 

In Victor Osimhen, you have a player with the finishing ability of Rashidi Yekini, the strength of Daniel Amokachi and deft touches of Austin Okocha. It was these attributes that stood him out at the just concluded AFCON.

Despite not winning the African Nations Cup for Super Eagles, Osimhen still deserves his flowers. In fact, the lines used by Carlos Alberto Torres, an ex-Brazilian footballer in describing Edson Arantes do Nascimento, aka Pele, could as well be extended to Osimhen. “His great secret was improvisation. Those things he did were in one moment. He had an extraordinary perception of the game.”

Osimhen’s football exploits at the just concluded Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) was outstanding in every sense of the game. He was the nightmare of opposing defenders who didn’t have a clue how to stop him.

He may not have netted more goals than his compatriot, Ademola Lookman or the AFCON 2024 top scorer, Emilio Nsue Lopez of Equatorial Guinea. He, however, had the destabilizing effect on the opposing side which was the clincher for the Nigerian side.

Osimhen, considered one of the best strikers in the world, was born on December 29, 1998 in Lagos.

He began his international football career in Germany at VfL Wolfsburg in 2017. Following a season and a half at the club, he moved to Belgian side Charleroi on loan in 2018–19, before moving to Ligue 1 with Lille, scoring eighteen goals in his sole season with the French club.

In 2020, Osimhen transferred to Serie A side Napoli for a club-record fee of €70 million, and won the Serie A Best Young Player award in the 2021–22 season.

In the following campaign, he finished as the league’s top scorer with 26 goals, a record-high for an African player, as he helped Napoli win a first Serie A title for 33 years. For his efforts, he won the league’s Best Striker award, before also being named Serie A Footballer of the Year a few months later. Osimhen is currently the highest scoring African player in the history of Serie A.

Playing for Nigeria
Osimhen won the Golden Boot award at the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup, which Nigeria won.

He played at the Africa Cup of Nations in 2019 and 2023, reaching the final of the latter tournament. He is currently the joint-third all-time highest goalscorer of the Nigeria national team.

On 29 May 2023, Osimhen was made a Member of the Federal Republic by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Awards
Osimhen finished in eighth place at the 2023 Ballon d’Or ceremony, becoming the first Nigerian to make the top ten of the French award.

He was also named the African Footballer of the Year at the 2023 CAF Awards, the first Nigerian to receive this honour since Nwankwo Kanu in 1999.