The 1994 Africa Footballer of the Year (AFOTY), Emmanuel Amuneke, believed his protégé at the national U-17 level, Victor Osimhen is capable of joining the exclusive list of four Nigerian players that had been decorated as the continental’s best this year or in the nearest future.
Aside Amuneke, the other Nigerian winners of the AFOTY were Rashid Yekini (1993), Victor Ikpeba(1997) and Nwankwo Kanu (1996 & 1999) but the former Barcelona winger who gave the Napoli striker his international breakthrough with the Golden Eaglets in 2015, said the 23-year-old is now on the verge of joining the list of African greats.
On Friday against Sassuolo , Osimhen notched his 19 goals of the season as Napoli inch towards winning their first Italian Serie A title since the late Diego Maradona era in the 1990s.
“Of course, I’ve been looking at want Osimhen is doing with Napoli in Italy and I think he stands the chance of winning the African footballer of the Year,” Amuneke who led Osimhen and co to win Nigeria’s record fifth U-17 World Cup title at Chile 2015, told NationSport yesterday. “He has been so exceptional this season and I think he’s getting close to becoming the African footballer of the year; maybe not this year but in the nearest future”.
Amuneke praised Osimhen over his scoring consistency since he joined Napoli in 2020 for a club-record fee of €70 million to become Africa’s costliest player ever.
In the 2020/21 season, Osimhen scored 10 goals in all competitions and nearly doubled the figure in the following season, scoring 18 goals despite the fact that he missed several matches due to injury and Covid-19 isolation.
This season, Osimhen has taking his scoring form to new heights averaging one goal per Serie A game after scoring 18 in 19 matches as well as scoring once in three continental matches.
“Last season, he was able to establish himself as one of the top players for Napoli and has been consistent in terms of goals scoring this season,” Amuneke noted.
“Should he continue with this impressive scoring form, we can be confident that Osimhen will be able to put Nigeria on the spotlight again by winning the African footballer of the Y and I have no doubt he has all the quality to achieve this.”
Credit: thenationonlineng.net
