The Lille forward has lifted the lid on the secret behind his early season top form, the goalscoring tips shared with him by retired Super Eagles forward, Odion Ighalo, and the reason behind his suspension for the league match against champions PSG after the international break.
Victor Osimhen has identified the grace of God as the number one reason for his scintillating goalscoring feat since joining Lille in the French Ligue 1 in the summer.
“I will say it's the grace of God has been the secret to my form for Lille and all I went through at Wolfsburg has motivated me and inspired me to all I have achieved and I want to keep to the momentum,” Osimhen told SuperSport via Skpe on Saturday as observed by Soccernet.ng.
“As a striker you have to take your chances. I'm a very positive person and I go into games hoping to score in any situation I find myself. I look forward to at least three opportunities and slot them in.
A French League disciplinary commission found the 20-year-old guilty of picking up three yellow cards within ten matches and has thus been suspended from Les Dogues' November 22 clash against league leaders Paris Saint Germain. Osimhen explained why the ban does not cover the Metz game this weekend.
“It is because we have the international break coming up after the game against Metz that's why. I have accumulated three yellow cards but the PSG match comes after the international break.”
Paul Onuachu was widely tipped to take over the Super Eagles Number 9 jersey following the sudden retirement of Odion Ighalo after the 2019 AFCON, but Osimhen has revealed how he was able to shoot himself ahead of Gernot Rohr's striker queue.
“I say a very big thank to you to Odion Ighalo. I never knew he was going to retire. He gave me some useful tips on how to improve my game while we were at the Africa Cup of Nations,” Osimhen told Supersport.
“And also I have been working with the coach and he knows the kind of qualities that I possess and he feels that I will fit into his philosophy of the game.
“The coach has the luxury of also picking Paul Onuachu and Peter Olayinka so if I'm not there these guys will carry on with the job. In all, I want to carry on doing well for my club and the national team.
“The game against Benin and Lesotho, the boys are ready. You can see that everybody is in top form. And our captain Ahmed Musa is back from an injury so we're going to give our all and go for the three points.
The former Sporting Chaleroi striker has banged in 7 Ligue 1 and 2 UEFA Champions League goals for Lille and his expected to join the Super Eagles camp set to open on Monday in preparation for Nigeria's 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Benin Republic and Lesotho.
I am waiting for Nwakali snr. to join the growing ex-cadet group qualified to play for the senior national team. Now that we have Victor Osimhen and Samuel Chukwueze established it is time our other ex-cadets should start pulling themselves up to join them. All talk about the future of a true first eleven Super Eagles must be centered around these proven ex cadets. They understand the character of the Nigerian blend of the game and have been successful while featuring at the zenith of the game at their level.
The failure of the present U17 and U21 team’s is going to create a gulf that would affect the fortunes of the Super Eagles in about 4 or 5 years.
Yes a few from the past generation of successful cadets may not be able to make it, yet Nigeria has enough to make up two S/E teams out of them. We have come a long way. What we should be doing now is locate, expose and start encouraging them to join the race.