Victor Osimhen – Player Profile 2024 & Career

Player Profile
Name	Victor James Osimhen
Nationality	Nigeria 🇳🇬
Date of Birth	29-12-1998
Club	Napoli
Position	Forward

History of Victor Osimhen

Victor Osimhen was born in Lagos on 29 December 1998. He grew up playing grassroots football at Olusosun primary school in Ikeja, Lagos. Already a stand-out performer at an early age, it wasn’t long before Ultimate Strikers Academy snapped him up. It was at the academy his talents were discovered by Emmanuel Amunike who was Nigeria’s U-17 national team coach.

Victor Osimhen’s Career In Nigeria

U-17

Osimhen’s journey began at the 2015 U-17 World Cup in Chile where he helped Nigeria lift the trophy. The young striker scored 10 goals and assisted his teammates twice. His efforts were rewarded with the tournament’s golden boot and silver shoe awards. Later that year, he won the CAF Youth Player of the Year award for his performances at the tournament.

U-20

Osimhen was part of Nigeria’s U-20 team that failed to qualify for the U-20 AFCON in 2017. The team suffered a 4-3 loss at home to Sudan to finish the tie 5-5 on aggregate losing out on away goals.

U-23

Victor Osimhen scored a hat-trick to help Nigeria’s U-23 team to a 4-2 aggregate win against Libya in a 2019 qualification match. After losing the first leg 2-0, Osimhen scored 3 and produced 1 assist to help Nigeria win the second leg tie.

Nigeria Super Eagles

Victor Osimhen earned his first senior cap for the Super Eagles of Nigeria on June 1, 2017 in a friendly against Togo. He was part of the team that finished 3rd at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Egypt. Osimhen scored his first international goal later that year in a 2-2 friendly draw against Ukraine. He has since made a total of 14 appearances for his national side scoring 7 goals.

Victor Osimhen’s International Career

Wolfsburg

Victor James Osimhen began his club career at VFL Wolfsburg after signing a three and half year contract in January 2017. He made his Bundesliga debut on 13 May after coming on as a substitute in a draw against Borussia Monchengladbach.

Unfortunately, the young Nigerian struggled for form and game time at Wolfsburg. He made a total of 14 league appearances failing to score a single goal. In the summer of 2018, he was loaned to Belgian club Charleroi.

Charleroi

Victor Osimhen completed a season-long loan move to Charleroi on 22 August 2018. He made his debut against Excel Mouscron on 1 September 2018. Later that month, the Lagos-born forward scored his first professional goal in an away draw against Waasland-Beveren.

A successful loan spell saw Osimhen finish the season with 20 goals in 36 games. His brilliant performances convinced Charleroi to activate the option-to-buy clause in his contract. However, the Nigerian striker was on the move again after he was sold to French club Lille in July 2019.

Lille

Osimhen scored two goals in a memorable debut against Nantes. His excellent performances saw him named Ligue 1 player of the month for September. He finished the season with 18 goals in all competitions including 2 goals in the UEFA Champions League. Osimhen was Lille’s top scorer and voted Player of the Season for the French club.

Napoli

In the summer of 2020, Napoli paid €70 million to sign Osimhen from Lille. The eye-boggling transfer fee made him the most expensive African player of all time. Despite showing early promise, Osimhen’s first season at Napoli was hampered with injuries which saw him miss several games.

However, he came back strong in the second half of the season as Napoli mounted a serious push for Champions League football. Osimhen finished the season with 10 league goals in 26 Serie A appearances.

Victor Osimhen Teams
Team	Period
VFL Wolfsburg	2017–2019
Charleroi	2018–2019
LOSC Lille	2019–2020
Napoli	2020–

Frequently asked questions about Victor Osimhen