Napoli forward Giovanni Simeone has described Super Eagles striker, Victor Osimhen as an excellent and quality striker who has always prove his worth in the team.
Recall that the Simeone was on the score sheet as Napoli thrashed Ajax 6-1 in Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League game.
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Osimhen has been sidelined since picking up an injury in the UEFA Champions League clash against Liverpool last month.
“Osimhen is a very good player, he’s also a good person,” Simeone told Omasports TV.
“We know we need him in the team just like me and Raspadori. When he returns, the coach would have to decide who will be the first choice striker.”
Personal Life
Born in Nigeria, Osimhen began his senior 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 France at Lille. In 2020, Osimhen transferred to Serie A club Napoli for a club-record fee of €70 million. He won the Serie A Best Young Player award in the 2021–22 season.
Osimhen won the Golden Boot award at the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup, which Nigeria won. He made his senior international debut in June 2017 and played at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.
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COMMENTS
Hmmmm…..gradually, Osimhen’s position as no 1 striker for Napoli is coming up for discussion (which should be in the first place).
Osimhen watch your back.
That’s what white folks do. Once they notice their kind can do what you as a black man can do, they discard you very fast
Maybe this will push him to get better and realize that he is dispensable…I don’t expect him to just walk back into the team when he returns….That could mess up the ryrum they have right now
They have a choice to make. Right now, they are doing extremely well without Osimhen. He may be sidelined not because of his skin color but what he brings in regarding his contributions level.
Gradually Osimhen’s inability to be level-headed will cost him his place in this team… The team looks good without him tbh… I hope he regains his earlier humility and focus, I wonder why many Nigerians in sports can’t just focus and play to their highest potential!!!
Ironically Simeone fancies his chances as well colleague Raspadori of taking the place of Osimhen as the Napoli arrowhead.They are desperately upping their game to put Spalletti in a situation where a tweak could be poissible in the centre forward position.
It’s very important for a player to stay strong,injuries will always give opportunities to fit reserve players to stake a claim for a first team shirt.Sometimes you never know how good a player is until he’s given a chance from the start.
However,i believe the first choice striker will pick itself as events unfolds,players will have opportunity in the first team consistency in performances ang general contributions to the team will determing who start games.
Raspadori is an international with Italy,scoring for both country and club which will stand him in good stead to claim the number9 shirt,but Osimhen’s doggedness persistence in effort can’t be overlooked this headache is great for Napoli and Spalletti.
In my opinion it doesn’t matter who starts.Though i would like our Osimhen to start obviously,but should he lost a grip of starting games consistently,as long as he’s getting reasonable game time and starting over 60% of games and Napoli getting the better of their opponents at both domestic and continental football,then that won’t be a bad situation for Osimhen but Napoli watch it!Should you decide on playing hardworking and tenacious Osimhen from the bench remember there are prowling eyes watching and waiting patiently ready to pounce!
@Greenturf you seem to forget that this boy in question holds the Destiny AND at the moment carries the hopes of the Super Eagles he is supposed to be our star man NO DAMN WAY NOT OSIMHEN. I will definitely NOt be happy seeing him playing 60% of the time coming off the bench that will be embarrasing and something that wuite frankly as Nigerians will be repeatitive with our players. Can’t Osimhen look up to Drogba and Eto’o?????????. This is a boy who has the same ability as Haaland if only he cools his damn head down. I know I will be laughed at but every problem Osimhen is facing now was brought upon him by himself and no one else the boy got Very Very very distracted with the fame and fortune you see it how he walks the way he raises his shoulder and bounces, He needs to be humble look at Haaland just focus and does his business. what do you mean clubs wioll pounce on a player sitting on the Bench Lol you must be dreaming infact quite the contrary if Raspadori and Simeone over shadow Osimhen and Osimhen becomes a squad player sorry to say no big cliub will come after him he will then end up as another Simy Nwankwo in italy bouncing from one small club to another.. That is football not what you have just written
Same ability as Harland, really? When it comes to finishing, he is still raw and needs a lot to learn. One attribute you can’t take away from him however is his pressing ability as well as his physical presence. Noticed his link up play as improved a lot this season but he is nowhere near the level of Harland…. and that’s a fact
The destiny of the Eagles is not in the hands of any single player, just like Raspadori and the likes are showing us at Napoli. Comparing Osimhen with Haaland is LAUGHABLE. We keep overhyping our players and when they show us their true quality we get disappointed. ‘Osimhen is not yet a world class striker’ was Rohr’s assertion about year ago, and what did people like you do to the old man? You took him to the cleaners. I believe in Osimhen and he has a lot to learn to become world-class and this is achievable. By the way, the reason Osimhen isnt scoring right now is NOT because of his social media rant or family issues, it’s because he’s injured and would have scored a goal or two if he had played the last four or five matches his team has been involved in.
@Muyiwa he was missing sitters against Liverpool and A penalty too dont be fooled by the overhyping of that game the coach may not have been impressed this is a player who went four games without a goal before his injury against Liverpool making it fourth game..and the fact that raspadori and Simeone have come in and the team played better and To make matters worse Simeone scored in the same Liverpool game too. The injury and current events is a blessing in disguise for Osimhen because now he has no other option that to up his game big time if he wants his starman title at Napoli that even thinking too far his place back. His first game back weather he likes it or not he needs to bang in 2 goals because it he is hauled off and Raspadori or Simeone score (in thier form not far fetched idea) he can kiss his place and stature at the club good bye. P.s I am not so sure he may have scored he may have just carried on with the self destructive nature and it coulf have got worse. NOw, he has had a period of reflection coupled with watching his colleagues raising thier game. Its fight or flight now and raising socks time
Osimhen should simply learn how to play safe if he’s to reach his potential. Players that last longer at the top level don’t pick up injuries although they could be out for a week or 2 due to fatigue or little knock. examples are Ronaldo, Messi, Benzema, Lewandowski Thierry Henry etc.
If only he can play safe, avoid fighting or going for every loose balls, he will stay fit for a long time. 70% of Osimhen injuries can be avoided. He really need to let other players like defenders and midfielders do their job of tackling and recovering balls. The truth is that he over works himself and that sometimes affect his chances upfront to score bcos he got tired at some point or not in good scoring position.
Also, it may seems though his teammates are ganging up against him by being selfish probably bcos they don’t want him to be the star man because now they’re playing good football passing to strikers to score which they have always fail to do with Osimhen. Let’s see how long there Raspadori, Simeone & Kvaratska can go. Sheybi the season just started, we will see their total numbers of goals when the season ends. Not how far but how well. None of their forward stand a chance against fit Osimhen.
Sentiments have clouded your comment even though you started nicely but finished like a typical Nigerian who doesn’t live in realism. What proof do you have that they ganged up against him? so they should not carry out their tasks perfectly cuz Osimhen is injured? Since the short man left there has been no selfish play in this Napoli team…. In as much as Osimhen is a good player and scores quite a handful, he does miss some sitters which would have increased his goal tally but if he can cool down and work on converting more then he will be great.
@Sean T Let us not be bias Raspadori and Simeone are not players we should be comparing with Osimhen. Halaand, Lewondowski these are the players that have similar X factor to Osimhen the difference is even if they are achieving more than him they remain humble, but now we are quite simply seeing a Osimhen who fame has goty to his head, because he has lost focus his over bloated EGO, His Social Media Rambling and Memes, His abbrasiveness towards his manager and teammates after it became known to him that He will be the star man of the team after Insigne and the likes left instead of Osimhen to kneel down thank god and be humble he chose to do a Adebayo and become arrogant even towards family and that translated to loss of head as early as pre season that fight with his coach in pre season is still in the air at the club and you can feel it now lif has humbled him players he was above in the pecking order have seemingly overshadowed him now because Osimhen felt indispenseable. this is the only situation he needed to bring out the best in him if he has that quality inside him they say competition brings the best out of a player well Osimhen this is what you needed a really rude awakening I am happy for this. Over to you Osimhen. Now you know the dynamics of football and the career you have choosen at the top it needs to be constantly watered and not neglected because in football you are as good as you last game.
@ Ugo Iwunze, you didn’t read my message well. I wasn’t comparing them with Osimhen. I said none of them stand a chance against a fit Osimhen. Meaning a fully fit Osimhen will overshadow them any day any time.
All Osimhen need his focus, work on his finishing & positioning. Most importantly, avoid fighting defenders just to steal the ball away, or going after every loose balls which he’s not in a good position to win bcoz all this have led to injuries to him overtime.
If he play smartly all those injuries woes will be a thing of past. He should rather wait patiently to see defenders make mistakes & take advantage of it rather than going toe to toe with them bcos he will definitely sustain injuries since defenders are naturally stronger and brutal.
I really wish someone close can give him all this advice & atleast stay off social media. Cruise too much & distraction could set in
Osimhen should revamp and remodel his striking/attacking techniques by improving on his positional abilities and clinicality in front of goal.
It’s not all about struggle and power all the time (‘gra gra’ game which causes him injuries often). He should study some great past and current strikers like Benzema, Haaland,Messi, Mbappe, et al..
Have u observed that Man City’ Haaland has fashioned out 4 basic scoring techniques/blueprints?
1. His players plays the ball through spaces and he runs in (mostly from outside the 18box) to use his left or right foot to score with great precision (Osimhen is trying here but needs to brush up his clinicality and must not dribble the keeper b4 placing the ball unless he’s too close to the keeper).
2. Goal mouth sliding: Just cross the ball through the mouth of the goal in front of the keeper as if it’s going off and Haaland slides down with his long legs and scores.
3. Headed goals: Cross the ball high and he jumps to nod it in or can even use his leg up high. (Osimhen is doing Gr8 in this aspect though).
4. Pass the ball to him anywhere within the middle of the 18yard box, Haaland will shoot it once with accuracy into the net. 1st touch, no bouncing.
Osimhen has to be more clinical, like the last game he played against Liverpool, he should have scored like 2goals if he was more clinical. Shooting accuracy and R2 practice will surely help him without having to fight with defenders all the time to score.
Cool down bro and play football intelligently, with trickery (not muscle all the time) and calculatively and the balloon d’or will be yours to grab someday. Cheers!
Same ability as Harland, really? When it comes to finishing, he is still raw and needs a lot to learn. One attribute you can’t take away from him however is his pressing ability as well as his physical presence. Noticed his link up play as improved a lot this season but he is nowhere near the level of Harland…. and that’s a fact
I just wonder why we like overhyping our players even our reporters are more guilty. Just compare the headline to the content of the report. Excellent vs Very good.
I hope the competitive situation at Napoli will help bring out the best of humanity, humility and ability in Osi9.
It is becoming obvious the main reasons for the inability of some of our youth stars to attain real stardom. Indiscipline, I don’t arrive syndrome, overhyped by fans and journalists, and unmerit invitation to the national team.
Sometimes I wonder how some inactive players get invited to SE aheaf of hardworking ones. To help these players, it must begin with the National team.
Our national team coaches need to stamp their authority and demand regular playing time with consideration to level of league while placing priority on attitude and performance in the last SE matches.
In the 90’s we used to have our players in top European teams and competitions i.e. Amuneke, Okunowo, Finidi,Taribo,Mikel, Cele, Martins, Amokachi, Ikpeba,Okocha, Nwankwo, Oliseh, and Akpoborie.
We even had players that went from our league to play for top division and major clubsides within their first year..Okunowo, Kanu, and Finidi..
The National league needs to be strengthened. Picnic’s selfish interest in glibal footbsll politics destroyed the Nationa league, His selective hobnobbing with National team players brought gross indiscipline to the team where some players turned training to pranks ground and camping to prostitutes joint…
A radical change of the system is highly imperative.