Ripe for CAF Footballer of the Year  

Last season, his 31 goals in 39 matches propelled Napoli to their first Scudetto in 33 years and unsurprisingly, he won the Serie A golden boot and was also voted the Player of the Season. Though shortlisted for the FIFA Best Men’s Player of the Year award, with a very remote chance of coming out winner, however, the award that would please Victor Osimhen the most is the one he has always dreamt of winning-the CAF Player of the Year and the Super Eagles striker is indeed a hot favourite when the winner would be announced on December 11

After the Super Eagles’ 6-0 pumelling of Sao Tome and Principe in the African Cup of Nations qualifier game at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Victor Osimhen expressed how much he was looking forward to winning the 2023 CAF Player of the Year, something he stated has been his dream since 2015.

 “It would mean a lot, a whole lot to me,” Osimhen said.

“I remember in 2015, when I won the (CAF) Youth Player of the Year (award), you know, I saw the winner (Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang) walk up to the podium to receive it (the CAF POTY award).

“Since then, for me, it became a dream to try to be there and win something as prestigious as that.

“I think now I have a huge opportunity to actualise this dream. I’m really looking forward to it, and hopefully, it comes home.”

Osimhen is one of the best players from the continent after the 24-year-old scored 31 goals in 39 appearances for Napoli last season.

His brilliance ensured that he broke George Weah and Samuel Eto’o’s goals record in the Serie A. He also helped the Partenopeans to their first Scudetto in 33 years and their first-ever quarterfinal finish in the UEFA Champions League.

With his achievements in the last season, the Super Eagles striker is a frontrunner to become the CAF Player of the Year, though he has serious competition from the likes of Yassine Bounou and Achraf Hakimi, but he just looks clear of the rest.

Ahead of the awards, which will hold on December 11, Osimhen has stated that he is looking forward to wearing the crown of the best player on the continent.

On Thursday, Osimhen was nominated for the eighth edition of FIFA Best Men’s Player of the Year award by the world football governing body.

The 24-year-old Super Eagles striker was named  in the 12-man shortlist for the award released by FIFA yesterday.

Osimhen who was just a couple of days ago similarly named amongst the five players from the continent in the 30-man shortlist for the prestigious  Ballon d’Or award, is the only African in the running for the FIFA Best Men’s Player of the Year.

Osimhen’s exploits are not limited to Europe alone.

He scored 10 goals for the Super Eagles as Nigeria qualified for the 2023 AFCON effortlessly. His hat-trick against Sao Tome and Principe last Sunday capped his brilliant run in the qualifiers and is hoping to take the form to the 2026 World Cup qualifiers starting in November.

Super Eagles legend, Kanu Nwankwo is the last Nigerian to win the CAF Player of the Year Award in 1999, but Osimhen is hoping to put an end to that wait.

Osimhen was listed in the 30-man list of players released by FIFA for this year’s Ballon d’Or, though the former Lille of France striker is considered a dark horse for the Ballon d’Or podium.

Even after missing a sizable chunk of the season with injury, the strapping Nigerian put away 33 goals, seven of them in Europe’s elite competition. Adjudged the Best Striker of 2022-23 by Lega Serie A, Humble Victor further amplified his status as one of the most crucial components of the league’s appeal to foreign markets.

With ambitions of winning two consecutive titles, Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis rejected offers of over €140M ($154M) from Al Hilal.

France Football opened up on Osimhen’s inclusion, “He became the first African player to finish top scorer in a Serie A campaign, he propelled Napoli into the continent’s top eight for the first time and he greatly contributed to bringing back the Scudetto, expected since 1990.”

The former Lille striker has since made an impressive start to the season, scoring three goals from four games so far, with reports suggesting he is close to signing a new deal that will keep him at Naples beyond his current contract which will expire in Summer of 2025.

However, Romano has shared the latest updates that Osimhen will extend his stay with the Partenopei with a release clause valid from next summer inserted in the new deal.

Also in this negotiation which is very advanced between Napoli and Osimhen to extend the contract and sign a new deal, the current one expires in the summer of 2025, Osimhen must have a release clause included, Romano shared on his YouTube channel.

Osimhen has proven to be a reliable goal machine for club and country, and he has broken a lot of longstanding records and he is confident that he can surpass Rashidi Yekini’s goalscoring record, but he insists that he is not in a competition with the Nigeria legend.

Osimhen scored a hattrick for Nigeria in their 6-0 bashing of Sao Tome and Principe over the weekend. However, it was not a one-off as the Napoli man has been a consistent goal poacher for the Super Eagles. His three-goal haul ensured that he now has 20 goals in 26 games for the national team, making him the fourth most prolific goalscorer in Super Eagles history.

The 24-year-old striker is only three goals shy of surpassing the records set by Yakubu Aiyegbeni and Segun Odegbami. Yekini sits atop of the charts with 37 goals, but with Osimhen’s remarkable goal scoring ability, the former’s record does not seem far away. Osimhen also has Yekini’s record in sight, but he is not allowing the pressure get to him. “I don’t think I can challenge the great, the legendary Rashidi Yekini because he’s done so well for the country, for the Super Eagles, and to be able to try to follow in his footsteps is a huge one for me,” Osimhen told an online publication. “But I think I have the ability to try to meet up with his numbers and to try to help the team as much as I can. I think I’m ready to go. I’m ready. “I’ve got a lot of players that can also help and support me. So, for me, I’m ready to give my all for the team. “If I surpass the goals record, I pass it; if I equal it, I equal it, but I really don’t think about that. I just want to get as many goals as I can score for the team, which is the most important thing.” Barring loss of form or injuries, the Nigerian superstar could become the highest goalscorer in the history of the national team.

Osimhen is primed to win the coveted CAF’s Player of the Year award when the ceremony holds later in the year in Morocco.