SSC Napoli of Italy striker, Victor Osimhen is retaining his ‘key player’ status at the Italian Serie A club, as coach of the side, Gennaro Gattuso says he will continue relying on the Super Eagles’ rookie to help his team get better fortunes this season, megasportsarena.com reports.
Speaking against the backdrop of a cameo appearance for Osimhen last Saturday in the 3-1 loss away to Hellas Verona, Gattuso explained that he had to get the striker back into the Napoli mainframe gradually, considering that he last played for the outfit on November 8.
It was right after that game that Osimhen got injured on national team duty with Nigeria against Sierra Leone in Benin City, after which an infamous COVID-19 infection stretched his recovery time by another three weeks, thereby keeping him for a signification period of time.
However, after losing on his first match back last weekend, Osimhen was back in the mainframe as Napoli advanced to the last four of Coppa Italia on Thursday night, after beating fellow Serie A side Spezia at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, much to Gattuso’s delight.
Osimhen, though, fired blanks within the few minutes of game time he got in his second game back, as goals from Kalidou Koulibaly, Hirving Lozano, Matteo Politano and Eljif Elmas saw The Blues establish a four-goal lead in the first stanza.
The opponents reduced the arrears in the second half, but Napoli held on the snatch victory, leaving Gattuso excited and satisfied, while also noting that he need not rush Osimhen back into the thick of action, hence his decision to hand the lad only few minutes in his comeback game.
Osimhen played the last 25 minutes of the loss to Hellas last weekend and, in his second match back, against Spezia on Thursday, Gattuso waited for 69 minutes gone before sending Osimhen in place of Elmas.
That became a maiden appearance for the former VfL Wolfsburg of Germany, Sporting Charleroi of Belgium and Lille Metropole of France hitman in Coppa Italia, and he now looks good to return to the starting 11 this weekend.
In the wake of both encounters, Gattuso revealed that he actually sent Osimhen on for the last 21 minutes of last weekend’s game to help the striker step up his match fitness level, after more than two months out on the sidelines due to shoulder injury and COVID-19 infection.
Gattuso expatiated: “This team has tremendous potential and we need to get some important players back. I brought Osimhen and [Dries] Mertens on in the second half to get minutes in their legs. They’re key players for us and we haven’t been able to use them much due to injury.”
