Powerful, aggressive, tough on the ball – Osimhen’s social media memes show a refreshing, opposite character

Everyone who has played with or against Victor Osimhen have had one fact to take away – he’s hungry and aggressive.

The Napoli attacker leaves it all on the pitch, fights for every ball, harries defenders and is constantly on their necks. It’s quite common to see go head-to-head with a marker, either after complaining over a rough handling or defending himself for showing aggression in pressing.

Osimhen comes from the trenches, as underprivileged societies are now known in Nigerian social media parlance. The hunger to succeed is evident in his game and he continuously shows why he’s such a revered talent.

After a difficult first season in Naples saw him score 10 goals in 24 league appearances, Osimhen has gone a step further this season by scoring 14 goals in 27 league games.

He is wanted by many clubs and is held in high regard by Napoli. Many pundits and fans see Osimhen as a key cog in Napoli’s expected title charge next season. And the player understands the enormity of this responsibility and expectation.

In every game, he shows why Napoli paid so much to secure his services, and this sometimes passes off as arrogance.

This season, the former Lille attacker has shown a part to himself that is funny, and could be deemed unserious. However, Osimhen’s gameplay is far from one that could be described as unserious.

His approach to the social media, centred around funny memes, displays of his love for good clothings and comedic captions have captured a section of the fan base. They are funny and are often a nice way to deflect the pressures that come from the sport.

While some comments in the past may be said to be disrespectful, hurried and unexpected of a player of his calibre, he has shown a side to his star presence that suggests he’s just as human.

Another thing to note for Osimhen is the perception of his personality. Although his Twitter takes are comedic and not necessarily meant to spark debates of what he thinks about women, he may be perceived as misogynistic.

Some fans and followers give a cult-like loyalty to football stars and a player of Osimhen’s calibre must be careful of the nuances he promotes.

His nice, attentive part however also shows in some of these engagements. Recently, he posted one of his memes and a fan requested for a pair of boots and he delivered on the request.

Nigerian footballers are not known to engage their followers on such levels, especially one as famous and revered as Osimhen.

His approach to fans engagement could be just one of a few of the type. Although it took some time to accept for fans, who were probably shocked from seeing such level of engagement, it is fast becoming acceptable.

Critics may call on the 23-year old forward to use his medium for engaging on more critical issues especially in a country facing many of such but Nigeria is also known to be a country where such moves are quickly shut down and attacked.

Osimhen may have discovered a new way to delivering comic reliefs and if it will help him focus on what matters – football, he should keep at it.

It’s new and different, and it is probably teaching others to live on nobody’s terms but there are also cautions to take as perception leads the majority.