Osimhen, Lookman, Boniface: Does Nigeria boast the best front three in international football?

Nigeria currently boast some of the most exciting attacking talents in European football, Soccernet.ng reports.

Victor Boniface, Ademola Lookman, and Victor Osimhen have been headline-makers throughout the 2023-2024 season, prompting the question: Does Nigeria have the best front three in international football?

Victor Boniface: A Breakout Star

Victor Boniface has had a sensational season with Bayer Leverkusen.

His contributions helped the club secure a historic domestic double, winning the Bundesliga and the German Cup.

Boniface's 14 league goals earned him the Bundesliga Rookie of the Season award.

Across all competitions, he netted 21 goals and provided 10 assists in 34 games, making his debut season in one of Europe's top five leagues a memorable one. His performances have attracted attention from top clubs like Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain.

Ademola Lookman: History Maker

Ademola Lookman has also had a standout season. He made history in midweek by scoring a hat-trick in the Europa League final, becoming the first African player to do so.

His goals led Atalanta to their first European trophy. Lookman continued his fine form domestically, contributing to Atalanta's 3-0 win over Torino.

Overall, Lookman has 16 goals and nine assists in 44 games this season, with 10 goals and seven assists in Serie A, helping Atalanta secure a top-four finish.

Victor Osimhen: Nigeria's Leading Light

Victor Osimhen remains Nigeria's most celebrated forward.

Despite a quieter season compared to his previous campaign, the reigning Africa Footballer of the Year still managed to score 17 goals and provide four assists for Napoli.

Comparing with the Best

Nigeria's most prolific trio this season—Osimhen, Lookman, and Boniface—have a combined 77 goal involvements (goal + assists)

However, to assess Nigeria's claim to the top, we must juxtapose their performance with other footballing powerhouses.

Starting with Brazil, their best-scoring forwards this season are Real Madrid's duo of Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo, as well as Brighton's João Pedro.

Vinicius is one of the best attackers in the world and he has been involved in 34 goals (23 goals and 11 assists) for Real Madrid.

Teammate Rodrygo comes in a close second with 26 goal involvements, while Pedro adds another 23, giving Brazil a healthy 83-goal involvement.

Next, we look at Argentina's trio of Lautaro Martinez, Julián Álvarez, and Paulo Dybala.

Martinez was involved in 34 goals in 44 games for Inter Milan, who were crowned Italian Serie A champions.

Álvarez followed with an excellent 29-goal contribution for Manchester City, who were also crowned Premier League champions for a record fourth consecutive time.

Dybala impressed with 26 goal involvements in 39 matches for AS Roma. The trio combines to hand Argentina a fiercely impressive tally of 89 goal contributions.

Up next is France's excellent attacking trio of Kylian Mbappé, Antoine Griezmann, and Marcus Thuram.

In what is likely to be his last season with Paris Saint-Germain, Mbappé went wild with 44 goals and ten assists to clock in a 54-goal contribution.

Atletico Madrid's Griezmann kept pace with his 32-goal contributions for the Spanish side. Meanwhile, Thuram can be pleased with his 15 goals and 14 assists that helped Inter Milan on their way to the Scudetto. In all, France's representatives contributed an incredible 115 goal contributions.

RB Leipzig's Loïs Openda, AS Roma's Romelu Lukaku, and Atalanta BC's Charles De Ketelaere combined to give Belgium an equally impressive 84-goal contributions.

England have quite a long list of excellent attackers, but none was more efficient than Bayern Munich's Harry Kane, Chelsea's Cole Palmer, and Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins.

Kane alone accounted for 44 goals and 12 assists as England's trio ended with a combined goal and assist tally of 138.

Nigeria finally found an equal in the Netherlands, with the trio of Bayer Leverkusen's Jeremie Frimpong, RB Leipzig's Xavi Simons, and Liverpool's Cody Gakpo producing a combined tally of 73 goals and assists this season.

Nigeria can also claim to be superior to Croatia, with the overall output of TSG Hoffenheim's Andrej Kramaric, CA Osasuna's Ante Budimir, and Atalanta BC's Mario Pasalic netting the European nation a 58-goal involvement.

Even Italy did well, but not as well as Nigeria. The goal contributions of Atalanta's Gianluca Scamacca, SC Freiburg's Vincenzo Grifo, and SSC Napoli's Matteo Politano only totaled 68.

While Cristiano Ronaldo, at 39, is still breaking goalscoring records in Saudi Arabia, his genius cannot help his countrymen in Europe.

Across Europe's top five leagues, AC Milan's Rafael Leão, Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes, and Manchester City's Bernardo Silva are the three brightest shining lights for Portugal with a goal involvement of 77.

Spain's impressive goals plus assists tally of 82 was supplied by Bayer Leverkusen's Alejandro Grimaldo, Atletico Madrid's Álvaro Morata, and Athletic Club's Nico Williams.

AC Milan's Christian Pulisic, AS Monaco's Folarin Balogun, and Juventus's Weston McKennie did their bits, but that was not enough to get the United States past the 51-goal involvement mark.

Germany fared much better with a tally of 93, produced by Bayer Leverkusen's Florian Wirtz, VfB Stuttgart's Deniz Undav, and Borussia Dortmund's Julian Brandt.

Uruguay make. Nigeria look good, with Liverpool's Darwin Núñez, Girona's Cristhian Stuani, and Real Madrid's Federico Valverde only contributing a tally of 59.

Norway boast several goal machines with the trio of Man City's Erling Haaland, Villarreal's Alexander Sørloth, and Arsenal's Martin Ødegaard contributing a goal-and-assist total of 98.

From the Asian continent, Japan led the line with a tally of 43, supplied by Freiburg's Ritsu Doan, Monaco's Takumi Minamino, and Real Sociedad's Takefusa Kubo.

Africa's Best

While Nigeria's attacking place in the global scheme of things is competitive, the country is by far the best when compared with other African countries.

Morocco impressed with Sevilla's Youssef En-Nesyri, Bayer Leverkusen's Amine Adli, and Real Madrid's Brahim Díaz contributing a combined goal and assist tally of 66.

Former African champions Senegal got on the board with 43 goal contributions, courtesy of Chelsea's Nicolas Jackson, who supplied 23 of these points, and Marseille duo of Ismaïla Sarr and Iliman Ndiaye.

2023 AFCON winners Côte d'Ivoire come in at 32 points, contributed from the goals and assists of FC Lorient's Mohamed Bamba, OGC Nice's Jérémie Boga, and Brighton's Simon Adingra.

Tunisia's goal and assist tally of 14, Mali's 25, Burkina Faso's 9, Cameroon's 30, and Algeria's 40 pale in comparison with Egypt's 72.

The Egyptian Pharaohs can thank the trio of Liverpool's Mohamed Salah, Frankfurt's Omar Marmoush, and FC Nantes' Mostafa Mohamed for that remarkable haul.

AFRICA

1. Nigeria – 77 goal involvements (goals + assists)
2. Egypt – 72
3. Morocco – 66
4. Senegal – 43
5. Algeria – 40
6. Côte d'Ivoire – 32
7. Cameroon – 30
8. Mali – 25
9. Tunisia – 14
10. Burkina Faso – 9

Global Ranking 

1. England – 138 goal involvements (goals + assists)
2. France – 115
3. Norway – 98
4. Germany – 93
5. Argentina – 89
6. Brazil – 84
7. Belgium – 84
8. Spain – 82
9. NIGERIA – 77
10. Portugal – 77
11. Netherlands – 73
12. Egypt – 72 
13. Italy – 68
14. Morocco – 66
15. Uruguay – 59
16. Croatia – 58
17. USA – 51
18. Senegal – 43
19. Japan – 43