Victor Osimhen has been in exceptional form this season and scored his 20th goal of the campaign on Tuesday night.
The Super Eagles star netted Napoli’s first goal in their 2-0 win away against Eintracht Frankfurt in the UEFA Champions League Last 16 first leg tie.
That takes the 24-year-old’s season tally to 20 goals in 24 matches, including 18 in Serie A, which has helped Napoli open up a 15-point gap at the top of the league table.
Osimhen has scored in each of his past six matches and is currently one of the hottest strikers in European football. It’s been a meteoric rise for the Nigerian international, who has already surpassed last season’s tally of 18.
So what is the sudden rise down to? Who better than Bet9ja Ambassador and former Nigeria striker Victor Ikpeba, to analyse Osimhen’s season so far.
VI: Looking at Osimhen’s performances over the past few years, he has improved and really blossomed over the last year or so.
When he first joined Napoli from Lille in 2020, he tended not to take his chances but this season he has really improved technically and scoring some technically brilliant goals. He is playing full of confidence and in a team that is doing well and winning most weeks at the moment, sitting pretty on top of Serie A.
It’s great to see a Nigerian youngster doing so well in a very difficult league. To score 18 in 19 is a massive return in Serie A.
I always knew that Osimhen had the ability to do as well as he is doing but sometimes young players need time to blossom, and he has been able to reach the level he is at currently by playing with so much confidence.
I am not really surprised as he has a lot of great attributes. He has the height, he is very aggressive and is tough to play against by the way he makes life difficult for defenders.
Sky’s the limit
I would like to say that Osimhen is a beast like Erling Haaland but both of them are not comparable right now. You see what Haaland did for Borussia Dortmund and his returns in the English Premier League is frightening. But I think Osimhen can get there. When you see the likes of Haaland and Robert Lewandowski and their obsession to score goals, I think Osimhen has the same hunger to do well.
Time will tell but I hope he will keep his head down and not get carried away with how well he is doing currently. The problem with African players is we tend to relax when we are successful so he has to do it season to season and cannot just be a one-season wonder.
When you look at Haaland and what he has done for Dortmund and now City over the past four seasons, it’s the ability to do the job week to week and every single season.
So next season, all eyes will be on him to do it again. I think he has the attributes to go and play in England, Spain or Germany but he will certainly not come cheap. We will see what happens but I’m sure he wants to play in the Premier League, everyone wants to play there as it’s the best league in the world right now.
When you also consider that Ademola Lookman is shining in Serie A too with 12 goals so far, it puts an emphasis on Nigerian fans to follow the league more closely which is great because the Nigerian fans love following their own players, especially when they play in Europe.
It’s an exciting for Nigerian football right now, to see these young players doing so well in Europe’s major leagues.
Can Osimhen lead Napoli to victory against Empoli? Click to bet on Saturday’s clash.
