French Ligue 1 side, Lille manager, Christophe Galtier, has warned rival clubs that Nigeria’s Super Eagles striker, Victor Osimhen is not at his physical best yet despite the young forward’s blistering start for the team.
The 20 year old summer signing from Belgian club, Sporting Charleroi hit the back the net twice in Lille’s emphatic 3-0 win against Saint Etienne on Wednesday night.
The former junior international has now scored four goals in his first three French Ligue 1 games for Les Dogues and is currently league leading marksman in a league that has the likes of Edison Cavani and Kylian Mbappe.
“Victor Osimhen is only 20 -years- old, so he has a lot of room for improvement and he’s going to get better physically, because I remember he only had seven days off this summer,” Galtier said after the game.
“If he continues with this habit within the group, he can only get better and better.”
Osimhen and Lille teammates celebrate his goal against Saint Etienne
Galtier dropped Osimhen to the bench for the game and instead preferred veteran French forward Loic who paved way for the former after copping an injury in the 19th minute.
He offered reason for his unpopular action which according to him was to keep the forward fresh.
”Victor will soon fly to participate in two games with his national team (Nigeria). I wanted Loic Remy to relieve him because he is a good striker too. I was very happy with Loic during the preparation, he unfortunately quickly hurt himself,” he added.
“This is the advantage of having a workforce like ours, with Victor who came back without asking any questions. He understood my choice to put him on the substitutes’ bench, and he came in to be decisive. I think about the goals, of course, but also about what I’m looking for in the game of an attacker: to put intensity, to look forward.”
Packaged by Lanre Olabisi
