Victor Osimhen will undergo medical tests this week ahead of his expected move to French club, Lille Metrople, Completesports.com reports.
The Nigeria international will replace Portuguese forward Rafael Leao who is set for a €35m move to Italian giants AC Milan in the Lille squad.
According to a report in getfootballnewsfrance.com, Lille and his parent club, Sporting Charleroi have reached agreement on his transfer with Osimhen expected to put pen to paper on a five-year deal once the medical is completed.
Lille will pay €12m plus a bonus of €2m to get their man.
Osimhen joined Charleroi on loan from German club Wolfsburg last August. He scored 20 goals in 36 games for the club.
Charleroi activated their option to acquire Osimhen at the end of the season following his satisfactory performances while on loan.
His impressive showing for the club also helped him make Nigeria’s 23-man list to the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.
He made just one appearance in the competition as the Super Eagles returned home with the bronze medal.
By Adeboye Amosu
8 Comments
Brilliant move.Just the right platform to develop his game.
Apparently,a move to ligue 1 will enhance his game and prepare him better to deal with challenges and demands of playing for the super eagles.
Wishing you a great season lad.
Guy come on u will feel at home here jst like osaze and vincent,come and continue making us proud,
Excellent !!!
This is the benefit of having a young team like we have currently in the Super Eagles. With age and exposure to tournaments, they have the opportunity to secure signings to big clubs where they’ll get UCL or Europa As they gain exposure and experience playing in the big leagues of Europe and earn to be truly called stars in their own rights
it all bodes well for the Super Eagles having plethora of stars to choose from. The fear factor in the Super Eagles is on its way back
_Big boots to fill_
Lille have decided to minimise the impact of losing a very promising striker in the of Rafael Leao to AC Milan by securing the services of our own Victor Osimhen and I ask myself this question: will it work for both parties?
20 year old Leao has been compared (by many observers) to young French Superstar striker Kylian Mbappé who was phenomenal as France lifted the World Cup last year.
Tiago Fernandes, who worked with Leao at the Sporting youth academy, went as far as telling French newspaper L’Équipe that, in his opinion, the player was better than Cristiano Ronaldo at the same stage.
So, is Osimhen going to be out of his depth by joining such a club in such a league to replace such a player?
Absolutely not!
Osimhen proved last season that, under the right conditions, he can raise his performances to a level expected of a top quality striker. When you think of it, Rafael Leao averages something like 8 goals in 24 games while Osimhen averaged something like 12 goals in 25 games last season making him a 1 goal per 2 games guy as against Leao’s 1 goal per 3 games ratio.
Both players are 20 years old meaning age-wise, Lille has replaced like-for-like. Both are also 6 ft. 1ish and are seasoned youth internationals with Osimhen having more senior football experience with exposure and experience gained from the recently concluded Afcon.
Hoping this move goes through, we Super Eagles fans will be delighted that one of our promising lads is taking a step in the right direction.
As I have written in another article on the same topic, the French league is one that many Super Eagles players have reached dizzy heights.
From Utaka scoring hat-tricks in consecutive matches to Enyeama’s lengthy cleansheets. Few will forget Taiye Taiwo’s left foot that terrorized goalkeepers or Oruma’s mesmerising displays; not to mention the Crowned Prince of Monaco himself: Victor Ikpeba who scored some breath-taking goals.
From his performances in Belgium last season, there is no doubt that Osimhen is expected to succeed in Lille.
However, whether he hits the ground running, or the extent to which he would flourish, will largely depend on how he would be deployed upfront and whether the formation of the coach brings out the best in him.
Wow.. This is good news I must say. I really want to see our own Oshimen balling full time in the French League 1.
Congratulations. A right step in the right direction. I believe he will succeed through good atmosphere of playing time with patience from coaching crew and fans respectively. The Lord is your strength Victor.
Great move by the youngster. We need more of this at a time our football is on the ascendancy. The good thing now is that most of SuperEagles hopefuls are playing in recognizable leagues across Europe. Some players playing in China, Saudi or European backwater leagues may begin to find it difficult to make the team and I’m afraid for the likes of Musa and Onuachu in that aspect.
We need to make good use of the next Fifa windows to try out various attacking options before the qualifiers for the next AFCON and WorldCup. I’d like to see Osimhen Iheanacho and Success combo in the ensuing months. Nothing is changing the midfield trio of Etebo Ndidi and Iwobi for some time to come. Although they will have some competitions going forward. The speed in which Iwobi carries the ball from midfield to attack was very eye catching at the AFCON. With clinical forwards in the ilk of the former trio SuperEagles will be a force in the immediate future.
In defense Ebuehi is back working well with Benfica. Aina will continue to improve at Torino. Ekong and Omeruo with Awaziem possibly replacing Balogun in the long run. I’m happy Uzoho will be focusing on his football career in Cyprus. Regular football there will most definitely make him SuperEagles número uno. I’m also looking forward to Ozornwafor getting valuable minutes at Galatasaray. The prospects are really fascinating and it’s mostly down to the work of the FrancoGerman. #FLY LIKE AN EAGLE INTO THE FUTURE# SUPEREAGLES ON THE HORIZON.
Since the day mr Gerard Lopez told losc fans that vic will join us,this city is waiting him with opened arms,he is expecting on wednesday at domaine de luchin