Nigeria's forthcoming friendlies against the Black Stars of Ghana and Mali will not feature Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen. Napoli has stated that their top player is not yet totally fit to play.
Due to fitness concerns, the 25-year-old began Sunday's pivotal Serie A match for Napoli on the bench against Inter Milan.
The Nigerian international has not received the all-clear to resume playing football, according to Napoli coach Francesco Calzona, and he is not included in the group of players Napoli released for international service. Calzona said to DAZN, "Osimhen has an inflammation of the scar from an old injury." The Serie A winners are being cautious so as not to worsen his ailment and will not want to let Osimhen go for Nigeria's next friendlies.
The former Lille forward had only partially trained with his teammates during the week, missing entire training sessions. Osimhen's participation in the game was first in doubt due to an inflamed scar from a prior injury.
International friendlies between the Super Eagles and the Black Stars of Ghana and the Eagles of Mali are slated to take place in Morocco on March 22 and 26, respectively.
Additionally, Osimhen's presence for the Partenopei's upcoming matches against Atalanta will be crucial to the team's chances of competing in the European Football League next season, as they have struggled this season and are presently ranked seventh in the league.
In addition to denying Osimhen permission to train with the Super Eagles for the forthcoming friendlies, Alfredo Pedulla of an Italian media outlet claimed that Napoli was attempting to negotiate with the Nigerian Football Federation in order to stop Osimhen from participating in the friendlies.
“SSC Napoli has communicated, through its official website, the list of Italian players called up by their respective national teams and Victor Osimhen is not among the players involved,” as quoted by Alfredo Pedulla.
“The striker will not start for Nigeria to recover from the injury that forced him to stop playing against Inter.”
Additionally, according to Italian journalist Pasquale Tina, coach Calzona will not permit Osimhen to accept Nigeria's invitation for the upcoming friendlies, and Napoli will be missing roughly 10 players during the international break.
“In this period of national team matches, Napoli will be missing ten players,” Tina said as quoted by Area Napoli.
“Osimhen is not well due to fatigue from a scar from a previous injury and the idea is not to let him leave for Nigeria, but to leave him in Castel Volturno to work for two weeks, in the hope that his condition will improve.
“Osimhen has not been well and did not train all week. On Sunday he went on the bench more to encourage his teammates than others, so much so that he never warmed up.”
Osimhen, who is playing for Nigeria at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, has scored 13 goals in 24 appearances across all competitions this season, despite missing a few games due to injury.
