New Telegraph-Admin 
There is always something new from Victor Osimhen, especially when challenges confront him. Turkey was nowhere on his radar until Napoli began to play hide and seek in 2024.
Now, Galatasaray are so much in love with the Nigerian striker that tears will flow in Istanbul soon. Osimhen is on loan from Napoli but in just one season, has scored 36 goals, making him the foreigner with most goals in Turkish football.
Gala have not only won the Super Lig, they also lifted the Turkish Cup. In the grand finale, the striker earned a brace in the 3-0 demolition of Trabzonspor. To challenge Osimhen is to turn him into a goal getter.
In 2024, there was a downturn. Life was not so good in Naples. And early in the year, the African Nations Cup offered strange disappointment.
The African Footballer of the Year did not even make the CAF Team of the Tournament that included the Nigerian trio of William Troost-Ekong, Ademola Lookman and Ola Aina. At Cote d’Ivoire 2023, Osimhen was the superstar, having scored 10 goals, the highest by any player, during the qualifiers.
In the Super Eagles first game against Equatorial Guinea in Abidjan, he got the equaliser. It ended 1-1. And that was the only valid goal recorded against his name. Yet, all the goals scored by Nigeria as the competition progressed, had the Osimhen touch.
Hosts Cote d’Ivoire paid a penalty because of the superstar. Guinea Bissau conceded an own goal, trying to stop him. In the round of 16, Cameroonian eyes were glued to Osimhen, leaving an equally dangerous Lookman to tear them apart.
In the semi-finals, South Africa gave away a penalty, trying to stem Osimhen’s aggression. And when he scored what looked like the winning goal, technology cancelled it, sending a clutch of Nigerian heart attack cases to their maker.
Osimhen did not take part in all of Nigeria’s 2026 World Cup qualifiers in 2024. And the Eagles could not win a match until he appeared in Kigali against Rwanda early this year.
He scored a brace in that away encounter and followed it up with a goal against Zimbabwe, in Uyo. That duel ended in an uncomfortable draw, after the dare devil hitman was substituted. A bad game against the Brave Warriors meant Osimhen returned to Galatasaray like a wounded lion.
Napoli coughed out a record 70 million euros to attract Osimhen to the Italian Serie A. In the 2022/2023 season, the club became champions again, after 33 years
The Super Lig trophy and the Turkish Cup are settled. The misfortune of 2024 has led to a massive achievement in 2025. The beginning was rough. After losing his mother as a kid, Osimhen struggled to survive. He scavenged dump sites in inner city Lagos before striking a membership deal with Ultimate Strikers Academy.
The Backstreet Boys walk to fame was about to take off. And it indeed, in faraway Chile during the FIFA Under 17 Championships in 2015, Osimhen was one of the boys picked by coach Emmanuel Amuneke to represent defending champions, Nigeria.
The Golden Eaglets won the trophy for a record fifth time. What stood Osimhen out was that he won the Golden Boot as the highest goals scorer, with 10 goals.
From Group A that included Chile, United States and Croatia, to the knockout stages that involved Australia, Brazil, Mexico, up to the grand finale against Mali, the striker scored in all the matches. That makes him the first Nigerian footballer to score in all matches of a FIFA competition.
Unfortunately, while Osimhen has continued to surmount challenges, the same cannot be said of his Golden Eaglets team mate, Kelechi Nwakali who left Chile 2015 with the Golden Ball as the Most Valuable Player (MVP). With the Golden Boot and Silver Ball, the most visible member of that squad remains a solid Eagle.
He has played in Germany for Wolfsburg, starred for Charleroi, Belgium, moved to Lille in France before landing in Naples.
If wonders are happening in Istanbul, it is because Osimhen likes to take the bull by the horns. In the 2019/2020 season, he was Lille’s top scorer with 18 goals in 38 matches and Player of the Season.
His first goal fetched him the Prix Marc-Vivien Foe. Having established himself in the French Ligue 1, more European doors were flung ajar.
Napoli coughed out a record 70 million euros to attract Osimhen to the Italian Serie A. In the 2022/2023 season, the club became champions again, after 33 years. He emerged as the highest African scorer in Italian football, with 47 goals and Serie A Footballer of the Year.
The difference is clear. Osimhen conquered Italy after excelling in France. Now the conqueror has done it again in Turkey of the old Ottomans. Voted African Youth Footballer of the Year in 2015, CAF Footballer of the Year, 2023 and ranked number 8 in the Balloon d’Or, he is the first Nigerian to make the Top 10.
Osimhen’s eyes should be on the African Nations Cup trophy. He needs to grace the World Cup as a player. There are big continental trophies in Europe deserving his kiss. We advise him to weigh options before making the next move. More laurels are coming.
