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Osimhen Blamed By Expert For Trophy-less Napoli

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Victor Osimhen
Victor Osimhen

Respected Italian football expert, Mario Sconcerti has blamed Victor Osimhen for Napoli’s failure to win the Italian Serie A title last season.

Despite occupying the league’s top position for several weeks, Napoli eventually finished third behind champions AC Milan and runners-up Inter Milan.

Osimhen also enjoyed a relatively productive season, scoring 14 goals in 27 Serie A matches.

The Super Eagles striker, however, missed more than a third of Napoli’s league games due to a severe facial injury that damaged his cheekbones.

The 23-year-old’s injury required surgery which kept him out of action from November to mid-January.

While Osimhen was away, Napoli only managed three wins in eight league games, suffering disappointing home defeats to Atalanta, Empoli, and Spezia.

With Napoli finishing seven points behind eventual winners Milan, a win in those games could have tilted the Scudetto in the Neapolitans’ favour.

“The coach(Luciano Spalletti) was not the Napoli problem (last season),” Sconcerti told Radio Kiss Kiss via Tutto Napoli. “The problems were Osimhen and his injury and the African Cup.”

Supporting Napoli’s owner Aurelio De Laurentiis’ controversial position on African players, Sconcerti believed Osimhen should share the blame with other Napoli stars who left the club for the Africa Cup of Nations in January.

“(Napoli owner Aurelio) De Laurentiis is right. He has been criticised for racism, but this is not the case. It is not a problem of skin colour but of calendars.”

Meanwhile, Osimhen will have the chance to shut his critics up when the Italian league season kicks off this weekend. Napoli begin their title hunt with an away clash at Verona on Monday.

Credit: thenationonlineng.net

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