Fulham defender Calvin Bassey says his international teammate Victor Osimhen is at the same level with Manchester City star Erling Haaland, reports Completesports.com.
Haaland is currently regarded by many as the best striker in the world.
Bassey has however likened Osimhen to the Norway international.
Bassey On Osimhen And Haaland
Quizzed about who’s easier to play against between the two deadly strikers in an interview with Stadium Astro, Bassey confessed it’s difficult to pick one.
“I don’t think I can answer that because I’m about to play against one and I play with the other one, but maybe there’s bias, you could say Osimhen is harder to play against,” said the Fulham defender.
“Haaland isn’t easier either. Both of them are hard to play against. They’re both at the same level, I can’t choose.”
No Difference Between Duo
Bassey also spoke about the two strikers different attributes.
“They’re both strikers, of course, they’re different. They’re both strong, very fast, and you always have to be on guard because at any time they can hurt you,” added the former Rangers star.
Read Also:Turkey: Onuachu Bags Brace In Trabzonspor’s Win Over Konyaspor
“You always have to be ready in the right position, know where they are, and they’re also one of those players that can physically take a lot out of you.”
Osimhen’s Premier League Ambition
Osimhen has been linked with a move to Premier League clubs, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool in the past.
Bassey revealed his compatriot’s ambition of playing in England.
“He’s unbelievable. What he does for the country, what he’s done in the UEFA Champions League, it’s amazing, you know,”Bassey declared.
“Deadly striker, I was kind of happy and sad at the same time that he didn’t come to the Premier League because I think it would’ve been good for him, but I’m happy I don’t have to play against him.
“Yes, [we did discuss his Premier League aspirations], of course.
“He doesn’t give too much away, but he said he was interested in the Premier League.
“It’s a good league, the most watched league in the whole world, so most players would want to come to the Premier League or experience it at some point, but he’s at a massive club now, and he’s doing amazing.”
By Adeboye Amosu
7 Comments
Well , for me Osihmen is a more rounded striker than Halaan in thst he tick more boxes and offers more than just a striker on the pitch. So halland is very good but Osihmen is better
Osihmen is far better than other strikers in football. Osihmen Mosimen! Osihmen Zigizaga! Osihmen Zagazig!
Long may the warm and effective working relationship between Eric Chelle has with the irrepressible megastar striker Victor Osihmen continue.
I just came off watching an “HITC Sevens” documentary entitled “The Shocking Downfall of Nigeria’s National Team” on YouTube which made for an interesting, absorbing and entertaining viewing.
I highly recommend you checking it out.
As a Nigerian, it was nice to see the creator of that documentary take me down memory lane of greatness for the Super Eagles, pointing the blame of the current decline squarely on the doorstep of the NFF, whilst also acknowledging the dire socioeconomic/political backdrop.
Nothing he said was new, but something he mentioned peaked my curiosity.
He partly attributed the favourable but brief Indian Summer experienced by Nigeria in the second half of this qualification campaign largely to the availability of one Victor Osihmen.
So, Was Eric Chelle just lucky to have at his disposal, a game changer that Finidi and Peseiro did not have?
Well, I think that analysis is half baked as it provides just one side of a complex and complicated coin.
You see, Victor Osihmen is a complex and complicated character. He wants to do one thing: score, score, score! And he demands one thing from his coaches (be it Napoli or Nigeria): Respect, respect, respect!
Peseiro and Finidi failed spectacularly to achieve these two elements in their interactions with Osihmen.
Peseiro, earned his respect, but was unable to fashion out a formation that would transform Osihmen to a goal scoring juggernaut in the last Afcon. Many fans, to this day, never forgave Peseiro for underutilizing Osihmen’s goals scoring prowess in the last Afcon, reducing this superstar to a lamantable team member who pulled his weight, weighed in good passes, passing up the opportunity to shine to Ekong who became Player of the Tournament.
Finidi, well Finidi failed to gain the respect of Osihmen, leading to an almighty ugly and distasteful burst up that splashed across the front pages of global newspapers, becoming a cause celebre for many a podcasts.
But not Eric Chelle.
Yes, Osihmen was available to him, on and off the pitch, the Malian still had to dictate a goal scoring tune out of Osihmen which was achieved by world class man-management technique and a cutting edge formation that allowed Osihmen to shine in doing what he does best: score goals.
I went back to the first 4 world cup qualifiers played by Peseiro and Finidi and I was stunned, nearly falling off my seat at the calibre of strikers/forwards they used to prosecute those matches: Awoniyi, Boniface, Lookman, Iheanacho, Moffi, Aribo, Sadiq Umar, Nathan Tella, and Onuachu. Talk less of goalscoring midfielders like Dele-Bashiru, Rafael Onyedika.
There is grounds for a fertile argument that, with that sort of quality in depth, coupled with his man management skills and progressive formation, Chelle could still have done as well as he did without Osihmen. After all, this is a coach that got 2 goals out a poor striker like Tolu Arokodare who is nowhere near the calibre of strikers used by Peseiro and Finidi in the first 4 world cup qualifiers. Additionally, Peseiro and Finidi were not (always and consistently) able to convert Frank Onyeka into the credible goal scorer that he is slowly becoming under Eric Chelle.
So, whilst I actually agree with HITC Sevens’ assertion on YouTube that Osihmen played a huge role in Chelle’s decent results, Chelle still has to be credited for 2 things: 1. Managing his relationship with Osihmen effectively on and off the pitch, and 2) Extracting a goal scoring gem out of Osihmen.
Something both Peseiro and Finidi failed to achieve in tandem concurrently.
Additionally, against Ghana, Jamaica and Russia in high stakes, high profile friendlies, Chelle’s Super Eagles extracted 7 points out of 9, losing zero games and scoring 5 beautiful goals, all in the absence of one Victor Osihmen, further cementing Chelle’s exemplary man-management methods and the fact that Osihmen or any other striker is highly dispensable if push comes to shove.
Mention must also be made of how Chelle’s got Super Eagles fans believing in Cyriel Dessers’ scoring abilities again, after many had written him off, proving once again that Chelle can get a goal scoring tune out of several strikers.
Nice Analysis
Thank you. 🙂
The fog of over-dependency on Victor Osihmen as the sole source of scoring goals for the Super Eagles might just be clearing.
Jose Peseiro achieved respectable Afcon success with Nigeria by essentially converting the Super Eagles into a defence orientated outfit.
Finidi George, to his credit, brought the attacking midfield of the Super Eagles alive by fabricating a formation that allowed Fisayo Dele-Bashiru and Rafael Onyedika to score gorgeous goals in 2 world cup qualifiers.
However, Finidi failed to get any of our much heralded strikers to score in those 2 qualifiers whilst Peseiro only got 1 of our strikers to score in the 2 world cup qualifiers he presided over.
However, all that is slowly changing.
Chelle, against all odds, squeezed out 1 goal from underwhelming Tolu Arokodare whilst extracting 2 goals from average Akor Adams in world cup qualifiers.
According to owngoal.com, Chelle has already reached out to Victor Boniface in the hopes of unlocking his goal scoring treasure-chest for the Super Eagles, this is a striker many Super Eagles have long lost hopes in.
That said, Chelle has form as this is not his first rodeo in this sort of barn. Remember the case of Cyriel Dessers? A perpetual abject failure in front of goal for the Super Eagles before Chelle cracked open the Belgian-Nigerian’s goal scoring portmanteau for the Super Eagles against Ghana draped in all round compelling centre forward play.
Let’s be brutally honest, for all the goal scoring arsenal at the disposal of the Super Eagles, the team remains largely a one striker outfit as Victor Osihmen remains the only one to be truly trusted to score with lethal consistency in national team colours.
That said, signs are there that others can score if given the chance within a formation that can unlock their goals scoring potentials