Opinions have lingered on the right choice for Nigeria’s top-most forward Victor James Osimhen following a stellar season in the Italian Serie A and for Napoli.
Recent reports regarding a contract extension deal at Napoli for Osimhen could be the most beneficial option for the 24-year-old striker.
Currently considered among the World’s foremost strikers, Osimhen has shown evident progression in his game since leaving the shores of Nigeria a month after his 18th birthday, to join VfL Wolfsburg in the German Bundesliga.
With zero goal contributions in 16 games across a year and a half for The Wolves, the sky remained gloomy and spelled doom for a Lagos-born player who dazzled on the global stage at age grade level scoring 10 goals and creating 2 assists in seven games towards the 2015 U-17 World Cup title.
Fortunes changed as his first campaign in the Jupiler Pro League produced 15 goal contributions in 25 games while hitting 20 goals in all 36 competitive matches.
His move the following season to the Ligue 1 also saw an improvement of 18 goal contributions in 38 games across the board, which attracted The Parthenopeans in the summer of 2020 for €75 million.
In 2023, Osimhen has not just broken all African-related records in Italy but crowned his efforts with a Scudetto and a Capocannoniere status in the City of Naples while building his face mask merchandise.
Osimhen’s agent Robert Calenda has continued to hold out his stance with Napoli regarding the salary tag and release clause negotiations, however, history will suggest that Osimhen has progressed by moving when the ovation is loudest.
Staying back at Napoli weighs more risk of falling out of favor with the fans should he fail to replicate his blistering form this new season, considering Napoli’s 2023 summer dealings.
With the likes of Manchester United, PSG, and Real Madrid all in need of a goal-scoring number 9, it is only fitting that one of the World’s most in-form strikers makes a record move now, rather than get tied down to the Napoli Cheif’s self-serving clauses.
