Nigeria international Victor Osimhen has shown admiration for Manchester City striker Erling Haaland amid rumors linking him to the Premier League club ahead of next season.
In Osimhen’s recent interview, he stated that he managed to have a conversation with Manchester City striker Haaland.
The Nigerian international said in the interview that there was a shirt swap between him and Haaland through Haaland’s friend Leo Ostigard, who plays for the Norwegian national team and also for Napoli.
Osimhen told the Daily Mail play with Leo Ostigard at Napoli, who is very good friends with Haaland and plays for Norway with him”
“I am a fan of the Bundesliga so I’ve followed him for a while and every weekend he seems to score two, three, four goals.”
“Ostigard spoke to me a lot about him, how hard he trained, then one day he said: ‘If you want, I can bring you his shirt.’ I said: ‘Of course, bro.’
He continued by stating his admiration for the Premier League but claimed the Serie A is the strongest league in the world.
Also, because Cristiano Ronaldo once played in the league, he is happy to be playing there currently.
He added: “Everyone watches the EPL (Premier League), it is really competitive, but Serie A is also one of the strongest leagues. When Cristiano Ronaldo played there, he said the same thing. I am really happy to be there.”
He also opened up about how much he admires Didier Drogba as a legend, and the former Ivory Coast striker remains the reason why he continues to succeed in the game.
Osimhen said: “When I scored 10 goals and won the Golden Boot at the Under-17 World Cup in 2015, one of the Nigeria staff showed me a tweet from Drogba. It said ‘Congratulations Victor. I wish you all the best for the future”
“I was shocked. I never believed someone like Didier Drogba would tweet those words to a young aspiring striker. It gave me a whole new motivation to succeed.”
Comparisons have been made between Osimhen and Haaland, who have scored 30 goals in the Premier League and 11 in the Champions League.
Osimhen’s current form has gotten the attention of Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, and Newcastle. Even Paris Saint-Germain, who lack a deadly center forward, will be in the market for the Nigerian star.
Given the number of goals scored this season, it will be difficult for Napoli to fend off interest from big-name clubs all over Europe.
The 24-year-old striker had scored 21 goals in 23 matches for Napoli and is currently Serie A’s top scorer alongside Lautaro Martinez with 14 goals and Ademola Lookman with 13 goals.
Napoli Will Be Without His Talisman Victor Osimhen in the Champions League Quarterfinals
The league leaders of Serie A will face AC Milan in the Champions League quarterfinals but will be without their top scorer, Osimhen, who is out due to injury.
The striker is likely to return to football action for his side on April 18, 2023.
He has failed to recover from his thigh injury on time for his team’s Champions League clash later tonight, April 12 according to the club’s management.
However, it doesn’t make any difference as Napoli have other good players capable of scoring exceptional goals.
Napoli are 16 points clear at the top of the Serie A table with nine matches left to play for. But their 4-0 loss to AC Milan on April 2, 2023, put a doubt on how good Napoli are without Osimhen.
However, the AC Milan manager, Stefano Pioli, played down the fact that they are capable of repeating their Serie A League victory over Napoli in the Champions League.
He claimed the Serie A League victory gave them an idea of how to beat Napoli, but he doesn’t believe it is going to be the same match.
The AC Milan manager thinks Napoli are going to bring something to the game, and AC Milan should be looking forward to taking the fight to them.
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