As Napoli Star is replaced over likely groin injury in Cagliari win
By Ed Emeanua
Injury could force meteorically rising sensation, Victor Osimhen to missout on January’s Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire.
Napoli and Nigeria will now sweat over the possible availability of star-man Victor Osimhen over a suspected groin problem ahead of Serie A fixtures and January’s Confederation of African Football (CAF) Nations cup championships respectively.
Osimhen was replaced at the 82nd mark of the pulsating encounter by midfielder Gianluca Gaetano after apparently signaling to his team’s bench that he was in bad ways.
The newly crowned African player of the year while again outlining his massive relevance to Napoli’s championship drive in Italian football on Saturday was removed from the game against Cagliari at the Stadio Armando Maradona Stadium after signaling a likely groin injury to the Napoli bench.
Having scored the opener with a mountainous header while sandwiched by two defenders, Osimhen proceeded with providing a captivating assist for teammate Khvicha Kvaratskhelia ‘s winning goal in the 75th-minute to hand Napoli a 2-1 in Serie A win over Cagliari.
Osimhen’s contribution in the assist apparently left him with a groin injury as the Nigerian came off a few minutes later.
Osimhen has already been slowed down by injury this season, and has just six goals to his name all season and stand to miss a big chunk of the season and Nigeria’s squad prosecution for the Africa Cup of Nations in January.
For Nigeria in particular, Nations Cup success next year looks even bleaker having already lost Nottingham Forest striker Taiwo Awoniyi to a lengthy term on injury sideline.
The Super Eagles have also recently demonstrated glaring lethargy in the team’s frontline whenever their Napoli star-man was unavailable in their lineup. Same scenario applies to Napoli whose scudetto defence.
Nigeria manager José Paseiro’s Super Eagles have struggled their CAF 2026 World Cup qualifying play posting two shocking drawn games against minnows Lesotho at home and another against Zimbabwe on the road, without Osimhen.
The team has shown obvious penchant for difficulty to finding the net whenever their Napoli superstar is not available. Osimhen also missed the Africa Nations cup two years ago in Cameroon due to injury.
