Lille Metropole of France striker, Victor Osimhen says he is happy to be listed as one of five players with excellent marks in the French Ligue 1 team of the week, but went on to thank his new club’s fans for cheering him to score twice on his debut against FC Nantes, megasportsarena.com reports.
In the wake of his double-strike on Sunday, which also earned him man of the match and player of the week awards, after his first ever match for his new club, Osimhen stressed that he was encouraged by hearing Lille’s fans chant his name, which he says boosted his confidence level.
Osimhen got off to the best possible mark with the club he joined just last wee, as he struck twice in their 2-1 win at home against Nantes on the first day of the new season, and he promptly went into the season’s first team of the week selection.
The Chile 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup top scorer and eternal highest goal getter in the Cadet Mundial’s history did not only make the beat 11 for the starting weekend in Ligue 1, he was one of five players rated 8/10 on the points log by highly respected French publication, L’Equipe.
Interestingly, Osimhen, who was named as joint-attacker in the Ligue 1 team of the week for MatchDay 1 alongside Boulaye Dia of Reims, got 26 touches of the ball and scored from just two shots he had on target.
The lanky youngster, who went on to complete 73% of his passes during Sunday’s game, also received high ratings by soccer statistics portal, SofaScore, which further recognized the immediate impact the 20-year-old former Sporting Charleroi of Belgium is making with Lille.
The website noted that Osimhen’s goals helped to propel last season’s runners-up to victory and start their season on a winning note, for which the lad was named in the front line of a 3-4-3 formation alongside PSG’s Kylian Mbappe, who scored once and assisted another in PSG’s 3-0 win over Nimes, with Dia also named in SofaScore’s three-man attack line.
Although the portal gave Osimhen 8.2 points, and was named man of the match by a long line of Ligue 1 technical buffs, he narrowly missed their best player of the week spot to goalkeeper, Romain Salin, who got 8.6.
All this is coming less than a week after Osimhen signed a record five-year contract at Lille from Charleroi, in a deal worth €12m, becoming his new club’s eighth signing of the summer, in place of Rafael Leao, who moved to AC Milan of Italy.
All eyes are now on Osimhen to continue his remarkable form of last season, when he impressed on loan from VfL Woflfsburg of Germany at Charleroi, from which he got 22 goals in 42 games in all competitions, and the youngster says Sunday’s performance has given him the necessary confidence to settle down fast.
Osimhen declared: “The goals have given me more confidence. I was so pleased to see the crowd chanting my name.
“It was an unforgettable moment for me, and I am really happy. This will spur me to do more.
“I’m not 100% fit yet, but I am training hard. I know that, with time, I will be in top shape physically.”
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Egbo Ekene
He is going places