Victor Osimhen Once Again Delivers As Napoli Dream of A Serie A Title

There is no denying that Victor Osimhen got off to a tough start at Napoli after joining the Italian side from Lille back in July 2020.

A club record fee of €70 million ($76.18 million) brought incredible and understandable scrutiny, only for a shoulder injury suffered on international duty with Nigeria to sideline him for two months.

As if adapting to life in a new country during a global pandemic wasn’t difficult enough, then a positive COVID-19 test and then a fractured eye socket would only add to Osimhen’s struggles.

Those issues ultimately limited him to just 39 Serie A starts across his first two seasons in Naples, but the 24-year-old began the current campaign finally healthy and looking to show his true value.

From the outset, Osimhen and Napoli have shown that the 2022/23 campaign was going to be theirs, starting with a 5-2 demolition of Hellas Verona in the opening round where he registered one goal and an assist.

Playing with the freedom and attacking intent that has long been a hallmark of Coach Luciano Spalletti’s sides, the impressive score lines have piled up week after week across all competitions.

That first victory was followed by a 4-0 rout of Monza with Osimhen again on the score sheet, with Champions League wins over Liverpool (4-1) and Ajax (4-2) following soon after.

The Nigeria international bagged his first Serie A hat trick in another 4-0 win – this time over Sassuolo – before domestic football went on hiatus due to the World Cup taking place in Qatar.

Napoli went into that break sitting top of the table, but when action resumed they wobbled and fell to a 0-1 defeat at the hands of Inter. Yet doubts over their resilience were soon allayed by Osimhen, who found the net in a testing encounter with Sampdoria just four days later.

The Partenopei then hosted Juventus at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, a match that would allow Spalletti’s men to send a clear message to the rest of Serie A that their title challenge was real.

Juve had won eight consecutive league games without conceding a goal going into that clash, but it took Osimhen just 13 minutes to find the back of the net and his emphatic strike was merely the opening salvo of a storm that simply overwhelmed the Bianconeri.

When the final whistle blew, Napoli – who plundered their way to a 5-1 triumph – had made history, becoming the first side in 30 years to net five past Juve and opening up a 10-point lead at the top of the Serie A table.

Osimhen scored again last weekend as Napoli dismissed Salernitana, with attention immediately turning to this Sunday and an epic clash with Jose Mourinho’s AS Roma.

The Portuguese boss and Spalletti exchanged barbs in the build up, but on the pitch it would once again be Napoli’s star man who proved to be the difference with a spectacular first half goal.

Controlling a ball first with his chest and then his thigh, Osimhen fired an unstoppable volley into the roof of the net, a strike that was crucial in helping his side record a 2-1 win over the Giallorossi.

“There is everything in that goal, technical quality, character to juggle the ball between two defenders, then he hit this rocket into the net, as he really has got a cannon for a foot,” Spalletti said in his post-match interview with DAZN.

“He has physical strength, accepts the challenge, tracks back to help, is good in the air. He is the complete package.”

So too are Napoli, winning all but one of their last 16 league games to own a 13-point advantage over their closest rival, the largest gap ever in Italian football after 20 rounds. It has fans of the club dreaming of the Scudetto, a crown they have not worn since Diego Maradona last delivered it back in 1990.

Bruno Giordano, a striker who played in those title winning teams has nothing but praise for the current side, and their no.9 in particular.

“This Napoli is a team that creates many goal chances,” he told Il Mattino recently. “There are many players capable of magic, but right now Osimhen is experiencing an extraordinary moment.

“He has grown a lot. He has incredible tenacity. He never spares himself and his way of living the game seems like that of a player from another era, one who spends every last drop of sweat on the pitch.”

Suddenly that fee paid for Victor Osimhen looks like incredible value for money, as a title for this club would indeed be priceless.