Born 29 December 1998, in Lagos to parents of Edo State descent, Victor James Osimhen is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Serie A club Napoli and the Nigeria national team.
Victor grew up in Ojota, Lagos State. He is the last of six children, he hawked sachet water and other commodities on the streets of Lagos together with his siblings to support their parents; just like every other kid, he learned football at a very tender age just by watching his elder brother. He joined a neighbourhood club as a striker, where his elder brother “Andrew” also played.
Osimhen started his career at the Ultimate Strikers Academy in Lagos where he played until 2017. He got his first start in the U-17 team in a 2014 friendly match. He scored two goals on this debut. One of his best goals was his second goal against Zambia at the 2015 U-17 African Championship in Niger in 2014. This, he believed, was very good because it was a solid reflection of what he had learned in training under coach Amuneke which is “accuracy first, before power”. He was one of the top goal scorers at Niger 2015 with four goals in 6 matches.
Osimhen was pivotal to Nigeria’s U-17 success at the FIFA World Cup in Chile, scoring 10 goals to emerge the highest goal scorer at the competition. After the World Cup, it was revealed that many huge European clubs were after his services. He announced he would pursue his professional career at Wolfsburg, a German Bundesliga club. According to him, Wolfsburg’s coach assurances were a morale booster for him. He signed a 3-and-a-half year deal until June 2020. Osimhen went on to play 16 games for Wolfsburg without scoring a goal.
Osimhen had summer trials with Belgian clubs Zulte Waregem and Club Brugge, who were the reigning champions. However, a summer bout with malaria had affected his physical condition and neither club decided to take him on loan. On 22 August 2018, Osimhen joined Belgian club Charleroi on a season-long loan deal. After a successful spell with the Belgian side, playing 36 games and scoring 20 goals, Charleroi activated their option to acquire Osimhen following his satisfactory performances while on loan.
In July 2019, Osimhen signed for Lille OSC. He finished the season as Lille’s top scorer with 18 goals in 38 appearances. His performances earned him UNFP Ligue 1 Player of the Month [September 2019], Prix Marc-Vivien Foé 2020 and the Lille Player of the Season (2019–20) award. His strong goalscoring performances saw Osimhen tipped by many to be in running for the African Footballer of the Year award shortly.
On 31 July 2020, Serie A club Napoli announced the signing of Osimhen for a club-record fee of €70 million potentially rising to €80 million with add-ons, making him the most expensive African transfer to date. On 17 October 2020, Osimhen scored his first goal for Napoli in a 4–1 win against Atalanta. Upon scoring, he held up a shirt calling for the ending of the ongoing police brutality in Nigeria “EndSars”.
Osimhen at SSC Napoli currently earns €110,962 (£94,102) gross per week and earns €5,770,000 (£ 4,893,282) gross per year. All figures are not inclusive of bonuses or incentives.
At the 2015 U-17 FIFA World Cup, Osimhen won the Golden Boot as the top scorer and the Silver Ball as the second-best player at the competition. He also won the 2015 Glo-CAF Youth Player of the Year Award. Osimhen made his senior debut for Nigeria in a 3–0 friendly win over Togo on 1 June 2017.
Oshimen has been described as ‘very humble’, He has a fond admiration for former African Footballer of the Year and Ivorian legend, Didier Drogba.
