SSC Napoli of Italy striker, Victor Osimhen has earned a fresh round of accolades, with his coach at the Italian Serie A club, Gennaro Gattuso and a highly-respected analyst, Paolo Condò both hailing him for his sterling performance last weekend against Atalanta, megasportsarena.com reports.
Osimhen had a role in three goals scored by his side against their in-form visitors and then added his first goal in Serie A to boot, as his side won 4-1 at San Paolo stadium, leaving Gattuso reeling lyrical and Condò, who is a pundit with Sky Sport Italia, both excited.
While Gattuso pointed out that Osimhen has made him proud by proving him right for pushing for his purchase from Lille Metropole of France by Napoli’s top brass, Condò reckoned that the young striker is living up to his value and justifying the hefty fee that took him to Naples.
The pundit went on to praise the Super Eagles’ rookie for making a bright start to his career at Napoli, whose fans are already excited with the impact they have seen from their club’s all-time highest record acquisition, who opened his goals account against Atalanta on Saturday and earlier got an assist in the previous match.
While Napoli’s fans showed how much they appreciate Osimhen’s efforts within such a short time with the club, and gave him a standing ovation after he was replaced in the 82nd minute of Saturday’s home game, Condò praised the youngster’s quality and predicted that the striker will do even better than he showed at Lille, where he scored 18 goals during a single season in the French Ligue 1.
Condò told Mundo Napoli: “This Osimhen is keeping 100% of all the good things we thought of seeing him in Lille, on a tactical level he is opening the opponent’s defenses. If he arrives in the area you don’t take the ball away from him, he runs, shoots and even scores. The spaces he creates for his teammates are fabulous.”
Osimhen’s overall cost for Napoli could rise to as much as 100 million euro, once performance-related variables, adds-on, bonuses and wages are included, but Gattuso is not batting any eyelid over what his side are spending on the tall lad, as he expressed delight with the Chile 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup top scorer’s first Serie A goal.
The 21-year-old Osimhen sealed The Blues’ victory just two minutes before half-time, after Hirving Lozano’ brace and an effort from Matteo Politano gave his side a comfortable lead; as he notched home brilliantly after controlling his team’s goalkeeper, David Ospina’s long ball from a distance.
Osimhen brought the ball down with his chest, then went bursting loose at top speed and beat Marco Sportiello with a low shot to the left, which ultimately rendered Sam Lammers’ second-half strike a mere consolation for Atalanta.
The Nigerian forward, who teamed up with the Stadio San Paolo outfit for a club-record fee of €70 million after a long-drawn transfer saga in July, ran to the sideline to celebrate his sizzler with Gattuso, who expressed delight with the immense justification he is getting so early from the product of Ultimate Strikers Football Academy of Ojota, Lagos.
Gattuso told Napoli’s official website: “I’m happy for Chucky’s brace, but Osimhen’s goal makes me happy because he hadn’t scored so far and he deserved it for the hard work done for the team. Victor was my wish and I thank the President for having satisfied me. It wasn’t easy but we have bought a player who is very important to us.”
