The 21-year-old has been a revelation for Lille since he joined from Royal Charleroi, but Victor Osimhen has credited the work of former U-17 manager Emmanuel Amunike for his success.
The Super Eagles star came into the limelight after winning the golden boot at the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup in South Korea. Under the guidance of Emmanuel Amueke, the Golden Eaglets won the trophy with Osimhen picking up the Golden Boot and the Silver ball.
But it was not until 2018 that Osimhen’s career really kicked off despite the success at the 2015 U-17 World Cup. The 21-year-old scored 20 goals in 36 appearances for Royal Charleroi, and that convinced Lille to pay 13m euros for his services last June.
He has carried that form into the French topflight, scoring 13 goals in all competitions for Les Dogues. However, while he is enjoying this time of his career, Osimhen has revealed all of it will not be possible if it was not for the discipline of Emmanuel Amunike.
In an interview on Super Eagles youtube page, Osimhen revealed his time with the U-17 aided his success for both club and country.
”I’ll rewind it back to when I joined the U-17 when I first went to the camp. In my own mentality, I felt didn’t like me because I don’t know why, but for me, I thought he didn’t like me or something like that, Osimhen said.
“And every time he’ll speak to me, yell at me on the pitch, do so many things to me, but for me, I thought he was making me to suffer. So there was a time when I wanted to leave the camp, I spoke to the coordinator and he’ll tell me to be calm and patient, that the coach knows what he’s doing.
“So for me, I think when you’ve chosen this path, you’ve to be disciplined, discipline is the first thing, whether you have a coach or you don’t have a coach guiding you, I think discipline is the first thing, and I am really happy I went through Coach Emmanuel Amunike.
“Everything I am today, everything I’ll be in the future, I attribute almost half of my success to him, whatever I have achieved. He really set my path, he made me to understand life is not all about talent, you’ve to work hard, you’ve to be disciplined, you’ve to listen to the coaches instructions, either on or off the pitch.”
“I think other players that played under him can testify, not just me, Osimhen added.