Africa’s most expensive player Victor Osimhen has been critically scrutinised after failing to find the back of the net in Napoli’s 4-0 win over Pescara in Friday’s preseason friendly game.
The 21-year who sealed a five-year move to The Parthenopeans from Lille this summer was on the pitch for 67 minutes.
He was however replaced by Andrea Petagna for the remainder of the fixture and the 25-year-old bagged a brace after his introduction into the game.
However, Napoli boss Gennaro Gattuso has quickly jumped in the defence of the Nigerian striker who scored six goals in their earlier test games against D’ Aquilla and Teramo.
Victor Osimhen finds his place on Napoli bench after failing to score in their 4-0 win over Pescara
The former midfielder said the former Lille star did not train along with the rest of the team after traveling to France to renew his visa.
“Osimhen didn’t train yesterday as he went to France to renew his visa, which may have affected him slightly,” Gattuso said after the game.
The manager further encouraged the fans to look beyond individual performances – adding the team’s performance was exciting and that is all that matters.
“Petagna did very well in attack. We must not only look at the goals, but at the overall performance of the team, and we certainly didn’t do very well today.”
Napoli will face Portuguese Primeira Liga club Sporting Lisbon in their final pre-season game on September 14.e earlier reported that Nigerian football star Victor Osimhen has been nicknamed as ‘mister hat-trick’ by Napoli fans who have been so pleased with his games since he joined the Italian side.
Victor Osimhen has been in great and stunning form for Gattuso’s side since he joined from Lille and has scored hat-trick twice in pre-season games.
Before joining Napoli from Lille, Victor Osimhen was also in fantastic form in France netting 18 goals for the club in all competitions.
