“Those people gave me the opportunity”

Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen has revealed that the key period that shaped his career was when he sealed a transfer to Belgian club Royal Charleroi in 2018, Soccernet.ng reports.

After his heroics at the 2015 Under-17 World Cup, Osimhen completed a transfer to German Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg. The Nigerian striker was expected to take the world by storm after his haul of ten goals.

However, his career stalled when he moved to Germany. Osimhen was not getting first-team action, and it was looking like he would join the long list of Nigerian players who performed well at the junior World Cup but struggled afterwards.

Eventually, he sealed a transfer to Charleroi in 2018, where he returned to his previous best and started scoring goals aplenty. Osimhen registered 20 goals and four assists in 36 appearances for the Belgian club, and that paved the way for a transfer to French Ligue 1 side Lille in 2019 and Napoli a year later.

Reflecting on his career, the 25-year-old hitman has revealed that his time at Charleroi was a key moment in his life, as that was when he came into his own.

“Yes, I remember the key moment is when I signed for Charleroi in Belgium,” Osimhen said per Tutto Napoli.

“I highlight this transfer because before, when I moved to Wolfsburg, I really wanted to start playing obviously, but I also wanted to learn because I moved as a young striker and I needed time to transform into the player and man I wanted to become.

“At that time, I was able to play with great players like Draxler, Schurrle, Guilavogui, Mario Gomez also came, for me it was an opportunity to learn a thing or two from some of the greatest strikers of that period and so for me it was really a turning point for my career, even if things didn’t go so well.

“I then moved to Belgium to try and get more playing time but was rejected by two clubs there, before Charleroi finally offered me a contract. That was truly a key moment, the moment that made me the Victor Osimhen you see now, those people gave me the opportunity to write my story, to launch my career from the bottom. That was the moment I realized I would make it big in football.

Osimhen can look back and smile now because since 2019, he has become unarguably the best striker from Africa. He also has an African Player of the Year award to his name.

He has become Napoli’s talisman, but with Chelsea, Arsenal, and PSG interested in him, Osimhen could be at a new club next season.