Sports Minister, NFF President Hold Crunch Talks With Osimhen

Nigeria’s sports minister, Chief Sunday Akinlabi Dare and president of the country’s football governing body, Melvin Amaju Pinnick have both held crunch talks with SSC Napoli of Italy striker, Victor Osimhen over the possibility of him being at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Megasportsarena.com reports that, with Osimhen still passing through the final laps of his rehabilitation from a nasty face injury copped during action with his club, Napoli are not wont to release him for the continental soccer showpiece, which starts on January 9 in Cameroon.

However, with the Naples-based Italian Serie A side having unwittingly hinted that Osimhen could be back in action on January 16 against Bologna, Nigerian officials are looking at the possibility of seeing the striker included in the Super Eagles’ final squad list of 28 players.

The list is expected to be made public this weekend, ahead of which Dare and Pinnick have quickly moved to gain assurances from Osimhen that he will be available for international duty, though his club appears to be against it.

Towards gaining assurances from the player, the boss of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) confirmed on Thursday that he personally held talks with the former Ultimate Strikers of Lagos, VfL Wolfsburg of Germany, Sporting Charleroi of Belgium and Lille Metropole of France hitman.

Pinnick, who admitted that a lot of sports politics has to come into play, went on to affirm that Osimhen wants to be the highest goals scorer at the upcoming AFCON in Cameroon, where Nigeria will play their first match on January 11 against Egypt, although he is still in rehab after undergoing surgery on his fractured cheekbone.

Earlier this week, the 2015 FIFA U17 World Cup gold medalist and highest goals scorer declared himself fit for the AFCON, which is in contrast with the wishes of Napoli’s top shots, as their medics are yet to modify their verdict that the player will be out for three months.

However, with Osimhen already engaging in individual customized training at Napoli’s home ground and now fitted with a protective mask, Pinnick insists the player should be fit enough to don Nigeria’s colours in Cameroon, hence his call for talks on the matter and that by the sports minister.

Pinnick revealed: “Osimhen is fine, I had a long conversation with him, then the Minister also, like a few minutes, and he’s very, very fine.

“He’s very eager and he’s hungry. He wants to be the highest goals scorer for the Nations Cup. So, we are very excited about that. Victor is very, very fine.

“Anything that has to do with jurisdiction of players, leave it for me it is politics. All the players that we need to be in Nigeria will be in Nigeria, by God’s grace, that I can tell you.”