Napoli Coach, Rudi Garcia has said that Victor Osimhen can get better as a player after the Nigeria International scored a brace to help the Italian champions to a comfortable 3-1 win against Frosinone in Saturday’s Serie A opener.
Napoli fought back from a goal down to secure their first win of the season but Garcia praised the overall efforts of the players even as he singled out Osimhen for special mention.
“All my midfielders have the quality of being able to cover different roles,” Garcia reportedly told DAZN via TuttoMercatoWeb. “Rotations on the flanks are important, but also between three in the midfield.
“We were a bit cumbersome in the first half, but I liked the reaction after the goal.
“I didn’t see that there was panic, the boys know that by playing like this we can score many goals; happy that Victor Osimhen scored two goals.”
Saturday’s Brace
Saturday’s brace earned Osimhen his 19 goals in 2023, making the 24-year-old striker the best scorer in Europe’s top five leagues this year after netting one goal more than new Bayern Munich star Harry Kane and two more than Erling Haaland of Manchester City.
“From an offensive point of view he (Osimhen)was very good, he scored two goals and I have nothing to say to him; from a defensive point of view, however, I didn’t like him at all and I told him so during the interval,” Garcia further said.
“In the past he pressed more and defended better. we corrected this thing in the second half and we played with a lot of quality. I knew he didn’t have 90′ in his legs, but we waited for him to score.
“From a psychological point of view, he’s inside the match, when there’s competition, he’s always there to respond. And He’s a driving force and will never change, that’s his strong point.”
Meanwhile, Osimhen has dismissed as ‘speculations’ a very tempting offer by Saudi Arabian club Al Hilal to pay him a million euros a week even as he pledged his loyalty to Napoli.
“Saudi’s bids? There were many speculations,” he told DAZN.“ I’m a Napoli player and I give the heart to my club. We are talking for the contract extension.”
Credit: thenationonlineng.net
