Super Eagles of Nigeria and Lille’s fast-rising football star Victor Osimhen has lost his father years after his mother died when he was still a child. The pacing 21-year-old forward took to his Twitter account to announce this on Sunday, May 24, 2020.
Osimhen made the announcement with a text-graphic saying “RIP Dad. No words to describe this feeling,” with emojis illustrating crying and broken heart. This implies that the fast-rising football star is now an orphan. He is left with his elder brother Andrew and his other four siblings.
😭😭💔 pic.twitter.com/YRA9LCdtUh
— victor osimhen (@victorosimhen9) May 24, 2020
Andrew used to be a footballer who was only known within Ikeja axis of Lagos state. He dumped football to concentrate on newspaper business and to help Victor Osimhen’s football career due to the poor state of their family then.
Before their father, elder Patrick Osimhen died at the weekend, the Super Eagles striker recounted how terrible life was for him and his family. He recalled how he lost his mother at a very tender age and how he and his siblings had to engage in petty trade to survive.
“I lost my mom in October, I do not even remember the year”, he said. “I was small. Three months later, my father lost his job. It was very hard for our family.
“My brother sold sports newspapers, my sister, oranges in the street and me, bottled water in Lagos in the middle of the traffic. We have to survive so we stick together.
“In the evening, we were all together and we gathered the money on the table. We gave everything to our big sister and she made food and organized everything.
“Part of my life has been a struggle to survive. But that’s all I am today in the end. It’s hard to classify all but each event has created my personality. “
Football is changing the story for Victor Osimhen
Now, the story has changed thanks to football. Unfortunately, their father and mother are not available to reap the fruit of such a poverty-stricken past.
Indeed, the 21-year-old has made the best of his experience as he has remained one of the most sought after young footballer in Europe. Since he joined Lille in 2019, he has become the best thing that happened to the club in the 2019-2020 season.
Before the season in France was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, Osimhen has scored 18 goals in 38 matches in all competitions, which helped his team to finish 4th on the league table. Osimhen ended the season, though prematurely, as one of the top 5 highest goal scorers in Ligue 1 and the top scorer at Lille. He is also one of the brightest light in the current setup of the national team of Nigeria.
