Victor Osimhen a symbol of Napoli’s hunger, and his season, personally, can get even better aside winning the Scudetto, which is becoming inevitable

Nigeria striker, Victor Osimhen has become one of the highly prophesied properties in world football and these days, Aurelio de Laurentis and the management of Napoli will look to heavens with gratitude for the €70 million spent on him less than three years ago.

Not once has he failed to impress since his arrival in Naples but injuries had limited his level of consistency and how much the manager could trust him given the unreliability caused by the injuries.

In a team with lots of club veterans to compete for places with as well as other infield chances, it was not easy for Osimhen to fully express himself and could have been limited by the presence of the likes of Dries Mertens and Lorenzo Insigne.

However, he was still able to give a good account of himself. The 23year old scored 28 goals in his first two seasons at the club, when he had featured in 62 games but started 50 times.

This season, he is much more involved and good for him, the past injuries haven't really resurfaced though he has spent time on the sidelines this season already, missing four of Napoli’s Serie A games.

In his absence, the likes of Giacomo Raspadori and Giovanni Simeone really stepped up and did exceptionally well. However, upon his return, Luciano Spalletti handed him back the starting role and he did not disappoint.

Osimhen has featured 25 times for the club this season, scoring 21 goals and adding three assists. In fact, only Erling Haaland has more than his 19 goals in top five leagues this season.

Earlier in the season, October to be precise, Osimhen broke the record of most Série A goals by an Nigerian, overtaking a record previously held by former Crotone striker, Simy Nwankwo.

The record was 31 when he equalled it and now he already has 43 to his name four months on, despite club football taking a break for the FIFA World Cup. Four more and he'll equal George Weah's record as the all-time African top scorer in the Italian topflight.

He is also the first Napoli player to score 21 goals in a season since Dries Mertens in 2017-18, 22. It is only February and Osimhen has at least 15 more games to go to better that record.

Following his goal in the win over Empoli in the weekend, he has reached eight consecutive Serie A games which he has scored in, becoming the first player to do so since Cristiano Ronaldo in 2019-20.

However, despite the tens of records he has broken and those still be to broken, some which are becoming inevitable, the best of the lot will be winning the Scudetto for Napoli, a trophy they've won twice but has eluded them for over 32 years.

Inter’s loss in Bologna means the gap lead at the top of the standing remains 18 with 14 games to the end of the season. Fans in Naples must at this time be having the vibes of champions, and this has come in Osimhen’s first season as their main man in front of goal.

With the Scudetto in sight, Osimhen will also have his eyes set on some individual achievements like the top scorer award, of which he is already six goals ahead of the next player on the list.

Napoli’s achievements he can also see as an avenue to strengthen his case for the CAF Player of the year award and the performance in Europe could be decisive, given other top African players will also likely win the league with their respective clubs.

Napoli have a two goal advantage over Frankfurt ahead of the second leg of their Champions League round of 16 meetings and Osimhen, as scorer of one of the two goals will be hopeful that he and his teammates can complete the job next week and go even further in the competition.

Osimhen is on form and has a great environment to help him set new standards before the end of the season and both him and Napoli will be interesting to watch in the next few months before the end of the season.

Author : Kehinde Hassan Afolabi