Edem Mensah
Victor Osimhen Biography; Nigeria-Napoli Career Stats
Victor James Osimhen MFR is a professional Nigerian football player born on December 29th, 1998. He currently plays as a striker for Napoli, a Serie A club, as well as for the Nigerian national team. Widely regarded as one of the best strikers in the world, Osimhen is known for his exceptional finishing, speed, strength, and athleticism.
Osimhen was born in Lagos to parents from Edo State and grew up in the Olusosun area of Oregun/Ojota. His footballing idol is Didier Drogba.
Osimhen as he is widely known is a Christian and has expressed his admiration for Sadio Mané, who is known for supporting his community in Senegal. Osimhen has expressed his desire to help people with disabilities across Africa. He recently announced the birth of his daughter, Haly, in October 2022.
Victor Osimhen is a highly praised right-footed center-forward in European football. He possesses physical strength, athleticism, and directness in his play, along with the ability to make runs into space and score goals. Standing at 185 cm, Osimhen is skilled at hold-up play and relies on his pace to beat opponents.
He has been compared to other young strikers such as Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, Alexander Isak, and Dušan Vlahović. According to Opta Analyst, Osimhen is among the top center-forwards in his early-prime age group.
His manager at Napoli, Luciano Spalletti, describes him as “the complete package.” In December 2022, Francesco Totti called Osimhen “the best striker in Serie A.” Romelu Lukaku described him as “the best striker” in January 2023. Fellow Nigerian forward Odion Ighalo hailed him as “the future of Nigerian football.”
In January 2023, Osimhen scored in Napoli’s 2-1 win over Roma, earning praise from former Brazil and Napoli striker Careca, who said, “In that goal, I saw something similar to Pelé.”
Nigeria Call-Up:
Victor Osimhen is a Nigerian footballer who has achieved significant success in his career. He played for Nigeria’s under-17 team that won the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup, where he scored ten goals in seven games and won the Golden Boot and Silver Ball awards. He was also named the CAF Youth Player of the Year in 2015.
Although he missed Nigeria’s 2018 FIFA World Cup campaign, he was recalled to the national team after a successful loan spell at Charleroi in 2018. Osimhen was also selected for the Nigerian squad for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations tournament, where he played in the match for third place. Napoli, his club team, claimed that he missed the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations due to COVID-19, which sparked controversy.
In the 2023 AFCON qualifiers, Osimhen started in excellent form, scoring a goal against Sierra Leone and four goals in a 10-0 win against São Tomé and Príncipe. He finished the qualifiers as the top scorer with ten objectives, including two hat-tricks in two matches.
Napoli Career Stat:
Napoli signed Victor Osimhen in 2020 for a club-record fee of €70 million. He scored his first goal for the club in October 2020 and held up a shirt calling for the end of police brutality in Nigeria.
He suffered a shoulder injury in November 2020 and contracted COVID-19 during his recovery. In 2021, he returned to the field after his injury and scored 14 goals in Serie A and 18 in all competitions.
In the 2022-23 season, Osimhen scored his first Champions League goal and helped Napoli qualify for the knockout phase. He became Nigeria’s highest goal scorer in Serie A and scored his 100th career goal.
Napoli won the Serie A title for the first time in 33 years, with Osimhen scoring the equalizer against Udinese. He also became the highest-scoring African player in Serie A with 47 goals. Osimhen renewed his contract with Napoli until 2026 with a new release clause of €130 million in December 2023.
Career Stats
Victor Osimhen commenced his football career at the Ultimate Strikers Academy situated in Lagos, Nigeria. His impressive performances during the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup caught the attention of many. Consequently, Osimhen signed a pre-contract with VfL Wolfsburg in January 2016, which stipulated that he would officially join the German club in January 2017.
Victor Osimhen Stay at VfL Wolfsburg.
Osimhen signed a three-and-a-half-year deal with Wolfsburg, a German sports club, on January 5, 2017. He suffered an injury upon arrival and had to be sidelined. On May 13, 2017, Osimhen made his Bundesliga debut as a substitute against Borussia Mönchengladbach, followed by an impression in the crucial relegation match against Hamburger SV the next week.
Osimhen was part of the squad for the next two matches, but only made a brief appearance in the second leg. Despite this, Wolfsburg emerged victorious in the playoff, securing their position in the next Bundesliga.
During the first half of the 2017-18 season, Osimhen was in the matchday squad for 12 of the 17 games and played in five of them. On January 28, 2018, he made his full Bundesliga debut, playing the entire 90 minutes in a 1-0 win against Hannover.
Later in the season, Osimhen started in two more games, playing the full match against Werder Bremen on February 11, and being replaced at halftime by Daniel Didavi against Hertha Berlin on March 31. Wolfsburg was again in the relegation playoff, but Osimhen was unable to participate due to an injury.
He also played in one game of Wolfsburg’s DFB Pokal campaign, replacing midfielder Josuha Guilavogui for the last ten minutes of their 1-0 defeat to Schalke in the quarter-final. Osimhen’s season with 12 appearances in the Bundesliga came to an end when he had to undergo shoulder surgery in May.
Victor Osimhen Stay at Charleroi.
Victor had trials with Belgian clubs Zulte Waregem and Club Brugge during the Summer. However, a bout of malaria affected his physical condition, and he was not taken on loan by either club.
On August 22, 2018, Osimhen joined Belgian club Charleroi on a season-long loan deal, after failing to score in any of his 16 appearances with Wolfsburg. He replaced Kaveh Rezaei, who was sold to Club Brugge after scoring three goals in the first three games of the season.
Victor Osimhen made his debut on September 1 against Excel Mouscron, coming on as a substitute for Jérémy Perbet. He made his full debut on September 22, scoring his first goal as a professional with a backheel against Waasland-Beveren.
He started with Adama Niane for the next four games, scoring the club’s only goal in losses to Cercle Brugge and Gent. He also scored twice in the last five minutes in a 3-2 win over Zulte Waregem on October 21. Osimhen finished the first half with 8 goals in 16 games, second only to Cristian Benavente in the team.
After a successful spell with the Belgian side, playing 36 games and scoring 20 goals, Charleroi activated their option to acquire Osimhen following his satisfactory perfect while on loan.
Victor Osimhen Stay at Lille.
Lille is a French Ligue 1 club that signed Victor Osimhen on 1 August 2019, despite interest from several European clubs. The Nigerian striker signed a five-year contract for a transfer fee of €12 million plus €3m in bonuses and add-ons.
On joining Lille, he expressed his excitement, stating that the club had a quality project, high-class players, and that great Nigerian players, such as Peter Odemwingie and Vincent Enyeama, have also played there. Osimhen wore the number 7 shirt, previously worn by Rafael Leão.
Osimhen made his Ligue 1 debut for Lille on 11 August, scoring two goals in a 2–1 win against Nantes. Two weeks later, he scored another brace in a 3–0 home win against Saint-Étienne, earning him a rating of 8/10 in French sports newspaper L’Équipe.
He was named the Ligue 1 Player of the Month for September 2019 after scoring two goals and assisting two more in Lille’s five league matches. Osimhen also scored his first goal in the UEFA Champions League on 2 October 2019, albeit in a 1–2 home defeat to English side Chelsea.
In March, a league report showed that Osimhen was the player who had broken the 35 km/h (21.75 mph) barrier the most, with seven sprints above this speed, ahead of Kylian Mbappé.
Osimhen finished the season as Lille’s top scorer, with 13 goals in 25 domestic championship matches and 18 goals in all competitions. His impressive performances earned him the 2020 Prix Marc-Vivien Foé, awarded to the best African player in the French championship, and he was also named as a possible candidate for the African Footballer of the Year award.
On 2 June 2020, he was awarded Lille’s Player of the Season, having secured the highest number of votes from fans.
Victor Osimhen Awards.
Victor Osimhen was awarded several accolades throughout his career. In 2015, he won the FIFA U-17 World Cup with Nigeria U17, where he was also awarded the African U-17 Championship Golden Boot, FIFA U-17 World Cup Golden Boot, and FIFA U-17 World Cup Silver Ball. He was also named CAF Youth Player of the Year in the same year.
In 2019, Osimhen helped Nigeria secure third place at the Africa Cup of Nations. He was also named Lille Player of the Season in the 2019-20 season. In 2020, he won the Prix Marc-Vivien Foé award, and in 2022, he was included in the ESM Team of the Season.
Osimhen has also won several individual awards, including the UNFP Ligue 1 Player of the Month in September 2019, the Globe Soccer Awards Emerging Player of the Year in 2022, and the Stampa Estera Italia Best Foreign Athlete of the Year in 2022.
In the 2021-22 season, Osimhen was named the Best Young Player in Serie A, and in the following season, he was named the Best Striker and Capocannoniere. He also won the Serie A Player of the Month award in March 2022 and January 2023, as well as the Serie A Goal of the Month award in January 2023.
In 2023, Osimhen was named the Top Scorer for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and was included in the CAF Team of the Year. He was also named the African Footballer of the Year and Serie A Footballer of the Year and was included in the Serie A Team of the Year for the 2022-23 season.
In addition to his football career, Osimhen was awarded the highest number of votes from fans.
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