Peseiro, Osimhen And Other Eagles’ In-Form Strikers

N igeria’s Victor Osimhen has been very consistent with Serie A leaders Napoli and he is currently the top scorer with 16 league goals and a total of 18 in all competitions. We are also aware he has broken many records in the process and he is now the highest scoring Nigerian player in the Serie A after erasing Simy Nwankwo’s 31 goals as far back as November last year. Only last week, he scored one of his two goals against Spezia in the Italian Serie A with an impressive header, reaching a height of 2.58m, flying higher than Cristiano Ronaldo’s effort of 2.56m against Sampdoria in 2019. Osimhen scored a brace in that encounter and he is now the player who has scored with the highest height in the Serie A. Osimhen out-jumped Spezia’s defenders and goalkeeper, plus Ronaldo’s record jump in 2019. Osimhen’s current global image is massive.

He is no doubt one of the best strikers in Europe today and all over the world. Foreign pundits also rate him as such. Osimhen’s Napoli are comfortably on top of the Serie A table this season with 56 points in 22 matches, 15 more than second-placed Inter Milan. We must say the quality of his goals is great overall and the way the fans of Napoli show him love with or without goals is amazing.

No doubt, every football loving Nigerian should be proud of Osimhen’s exploits this season. Georgian midfielder Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is a good ally of Osimhen on the pitch; he has provided him with most assists even as he has scored eight league goals and 10 in all competitions.

It is important to stress that Eagles manager, Jose Peseiro, and his crew should study the games of Napoli well and try and get another Eagles player to play like the Georgian to enable Osimhen to be more effective in the national team. It is also interesting to see the way big clubs like Chelsea, Manchester United and Real Madrid are being linked with the red-hot Eagles forward whose value is currently above €100m for now. We believe if the talents and current form of Osimhen and other Eagles stars are maximized by the coaches; no team can stop Nigeria in the forthcoming international fixtures for the AFCON and World Cup qualifiers. In history, Nigeria’s professional footballers have not had it this good in recent years. The players, most of them Eagles stars, are doing exceedingly well with their respective clubs abroad.

In the past, we have had some notable names perform well abroad. Exinternational, Joseph Yobo rose to become the captain of Everton FC in the English Premier League (EPL) just as Celestine Babayaro was also at some point the captain of Chelsea also in the EPL. Nwankwo Kanu was a standout player in the colours of Arsenal in his days in England just as he was also great in the colours of Ajax of Holland where together with Finidi George they both won the UEFA Champions League for the Dutch team. Kanu also featured for Portsmouth and scored goals in the semi and final games to win the English FA Cup for Pompey.

Sunday Oliseh was also glorious in the colours of Juventus of Italy and Borussia Dortmund of Germany just as ex-defender Taribo West was great with Inter and AC Milan both in Italy’s Serie A. Austin Okocha was fantastic with Frankfurt and PSG before heading to England to captain Bolton FC under the tutelage of legendary manager, Sam Allardyce. Former ‘Headmaster’ Mutiu Adepoju made waves with Racing Santander in Spain; Emmanuel Amuneke was glorious with Portugal’s Sporting Lisbon and Samson Siasia great in France with Nantes. It will be unfair not to mention the exploits of late Stephen Keshi in the colours of Anderlecht in Belgium’s Jupiler Pro League and how late Rashidi Yekini painted Sporting Gijon with goals in Spain. As it is now, the glory days are back as many Nigerian players are in hot form with their respective clubs.

Some are not just average but playing a commanding role in the scheme of things in the ongoing season. Folarin Balogun, a Nigerian on loan from Arsenal and in the colours of Reims, is the Ligue 1 top scorer in France with 14 goals while Paul Onuachu who recently left Belgium’s Genk for EPL’s Southampton has 16 goals to his credit this term. In the Championship, Chuba Akpom of Middlesbrough is the top scorer so far in the league just as Josh Maja with 11 goals for Bordeaux is the top scorer for Ligue 2 in France. Ademola Lookman of Atlanta has scored 12 league goals and a total of 14 goals in all competitions and he is currently the second highest scorer in the Serie A. Interestingly, Lookman is trailing another Super Eagles star and the hottest Nigerian player, Osimhen, in the scorers’ chart. We make bold to say making the current momentum count is crucial for Nigeria and we expect the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and its technical department to work and restore the glory days of the senior national team.