Lille Metropole of France striker, Victor Osimhen has admitted he is highly excited and thrilled, after being named the club’s player of the season for the recently cancelled campaign in the French Ligue 1, megasportsarena.com reports.
The 21-year-old Super Eagles’ rookie got the award after he finished the season with 18 goals in all competitions, 13 of which came in Ligue 1 Conforama, and he helped his side qualify for next season’s UEFA Europa League; while also placing fourth among the top goals scorers.
He tied with PSG’s Brazilian ace, Neymar with 13 goals in Ligue, while adding two apiece in the Champions League and French Coupe de la Ligue as well as one in Coupe de France, all that set him up to replace Cote d’Ivoire youngster, Nicolas Pépé, who won Lille’s best player award for the 2018/19 season before moving to Arsenal of England.
In becoming the modest club’s latest player of the season, Osimhen got the topmost vote ahead of Benjamin André and Renato Sanches, while the ex-VfL Wolfsburg of Germany and Sporting Charleroi of Belgium fast-rising lad, who earlier emerged French Ligue 1 Player of the Month for September 2019, is still in the race for the Marc-Vivien Foé gong as best African in the league.
The Chile 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup top scorer is already being tipped to leave The Great Danes in the coming weeks, despite having only joined them last summer from Charleroi, after equally impressive performances in only one season on loan from Wolfsburg to the Belgian side, with which he scored 19 goals in the Jupiler League before moving on to join Lille.
He joined Lille as a direct replacement for Pepe, who has struggled at Arsenal, but Osimhen hit the ground running from the first day of his arrival at Stade Pierre-Mauroy, delivering a haul of great goals and scintillating performances that have endeared him to the club’s fans.
Osimhen, who also provided six assists in 38 appearances across all competitions, finished as fourth highest scorer in the whole Ligue 1, as he continue churning out tremendous outings with Christophe Galtier’s squad, such that the CAF Youth Player of the Year 2015 and 2019 Africa Cup of Nations bronze medalist looks set for a major transfer from Lille this summer.
He is still being linked with top clubs like AC Milan, Inter Milan, Napoli and Juventus of Italy, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Sevilla of Spain as well as Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur of England and Manchester United of England.
Lille’s owner, Gerard Lopez has already admitted it will be tough for the club to keep hold of the product of Ultimate Strikers Football Academy in the Ojota area of Lagos, who has expressed a preference for playing in England in the 2020/21 season.
