Osimhen: “Naples has changed my life. Spalletti is a genius”

From the back row to first place, among the best strikers in the world. It is the long journey of Victor Osimhen who is told today in a long interview with the monthly France Football, evoking difficulties, illusions, and the strength to always believe in the dream of establishing himself at the top. Sometimes against everything and everyone. Until Naples, where anyway. “It’s only the beginning”.

TRAUMA

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The last place is the one occupied by the then little boy Osimhen in the tryouts to integrate the Nigerian youth team in view of the U17 World Cup, then won against Chile, in 2015, with ten goals from the Neapolitan: “The first day they made us run a lot and I was always among the last, but they took me anyway and then things changed”. Not obvious for a boy who lost his mother at the age of three, in the poverty of the Olusosun district, in Lagos: “But I’m happy – says Osimhen – to have overcome such difficult stages, otherwise I wouldn’t have dropped out of school to pursue my dream”. A dream that began in Europe, at Wolfsburg, where things didn’t go well: “It was traumatizing to live alone, then the injuries and the fact that I no longer fit into the club’s plans.” In Belgium the situation did not improve, due to malaria which blew up the agreement with Zulte-Waregem and Bruges. Not with Charleroi: “But I only believed it when they published my photo on social media”.

WORLDS

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From here Victor restarted: “Thanks to coach Felice Mazzu who believed in me and with him I learned to play without the ball, to press, to position myself well in the box. I scored 20 goals and in the middle of the season there was already an Italian team that wanted me, I’m not saying which but it was a top club. But I preferred to stay”. And in 2019, here he is in Lille: “Galtier (coach at the time) immediately asked me how many goals I wanted to score on my debut… I told him two. There was good weather with Maignan (now at Milan), Ikoné (Fiorentina). And against Nantes on my debut, I signed a brace”. The first of a long series to arrive at Napoli: “After Charleroi and Lilla, landing in Naples is like changing the world: never seen fans like this who live for the club. The arrival at the airport was impressive. I did not believe it. Today I can say that if we give the impression of flying, we owe it to them who transmit energy to us. We feel Maradona’s legacy well… They give us love, they make us understand that we mean a lot to them. No small feat in a cold world like ours.”

DREAMS

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Even in Naples, however, Osimhen had to deny some skeptics: “There were those who said that I would not score more than five goals in Serie A or that I would end up on loan in Serie B. But criticism doesn’t bother me. I thank the president De Laurentiis, the ds Giuntoli and Gattuso who have been patient, and believed in me: they told me to continue working and that my time would come “. By now, Osimhen is considered one of the best strikers around: “I knew I would become one, but you need to have a favorable context and stay positive. Drogba and Lewandowski made me dream, that’s why becoming the best shouldn’t be a goal, but remain a dream to be pursued, naturally. And in Naples it is only the beginning”.

GENIUS

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The Nigerian credits Spalletti a lot of credit: “For me the team comes first, I like the collective game, I like defending, and with Spalletti there’s no choice: the forwards are the first defenders. Our strength is the collective, and we have no real weakness. In Serie A, everything is tactics. Spalletti’s work is incomparable: he is a genius. When we manage to apply 99% of his ideas we will destroy the opponent. With Kvaratskhelia it works automatically: he has an immense talent and is a good guy. Everyone loves it.” Osimhen also talks about the surgery on his face after the injury with Inter: “For two months I no longer felt my face, but I thank the surgeon and his team who also created the very hard mask: now I’m no longer afraid to hurt me”. In short, the forward is enjoying the moment: “What I’m experiencing is incredible. I will also go back to Lagos to show the children that anything is possible and to give them the opportunity to believe in dreams”.

SUPER

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On the other hand, midfielder Tanguy Ndombele spoke to the monthly So Foot, on newsstands with a focus on Naples: “Before I got here, I didn’t know much about Naples or Italian football. We have a super team and Serie A is very difficult. I didn’t know who Kvaratskhelia was, but I quickly realized that he had something peculiar … ”. Even for the Frenchman, Spalletti is someone who “has created a fluid working environment and has a good relationship with the players”.