Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool target Victor Osimhen has been encouraged to seek a move to a ‘very, very big club’ this summer by his Nigerian national team manager Gernot Rohr, speaking to Channels TV.
While the phrase ‘golden generation’ is severely overused in international football, Super Eagles fans are understandably excited about a talented crop of players who have burst onto the scene in recent years.
In Joe Aribo, Alex Iwobi, Samuel Chukwueze, Kelechi Iheanacho, Josh Maja and Emmanuel Dennis, Nigeria can boast some of the most promising forwards in African football. The best of the lot, however, may by a Ligue 1 sensation who many have compared to Chelsea legend Didier Drogba.
Sky claims that Spurs, Liverpool and Chelsea themselves have been watching Osimhen during a superb debut season across the Channel. A quicksilver number nine with the leap of a salmon, the one-time Wolfsburg youngster has notched 18 goals since joining Lille from Charleroi last summer.
And though an £90 million price-tag could make a summer move all-but impossible in this most uncertain of markets, Rohr believes that Nigeria would only benefit from Osimhen plying his trade at one of the biggest clubs on the continent.
“Victor Osimhen, I think, will have a very big opportunity to go from Lille, perhaps in the Premier League, to a very, very big club,” said a 66-year-old who lead Nigeria to third at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, before admitting that guaranteed game time should be Osimhen’s top priority.
“If we have players playing at a very high level for their clubs, our level at the Super Eagles would grow also.
“(But) If he is signing for a very big club – you have seen the clubs ready to buy him now – he is not so sure to play because there’s big competition for the starting places in the team.
“(Although) it would be better to play in a better club than Lille.”
Speaking to The Cable last week, Osimhen’s agent admitted that Tottenham and Newcastle United had been in contact about a deal to bring the 21-year-old to England. But, as he was at pains to point out, a move to Spurs would not exactly benefit the Super Eagles star if he finds himself stuck on the bench behind Harry Kane.
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