Victor Osimhen
After a long chase Nigerian international Victor Osimhen, Italian Serie A side Napoli has finally sealed the signing of the young striker from French club Lille. Napoli’s website gave very few details of the deal simply saying: “SSC Napoli are delighted to announce the signing of Victor Osimhen from Lille on a permanent transfer.”
According to French sports newspaper L’Equipe, the deal is worth more than $96m (81.3m euros) making him the most expensive African player of all time. Napoli has now paid more than English Premier League side Arsenal who signed Lille and Ivorian striker Nicolas Pepe a year ago.
Victor Osimhen joined Lille from Belgium’s Charleroi as a replacement for Pepe. He did well in his first season scoring 18 goals in all competitions for Lille last season, the 21-year-old hade been linked for several weeks with Napoli. In June he was named the Lille’s of the season in what was his first campaign in France, and the Nigerian was also named in Ligue 1’s team of the season.
Osimhen burst into the spotlight at the 2015 Under-17 World Cup in Chile, as he clinched the Golden Boot and Silver Ball awards as the Golden Eaglets won the title. he was then just 16 years of age, he scored a tournament-record 10 goals, netting in every one of Nigeria’s games, in a performance that helped earn him Africa’s Youth Player of the Year award for 2015.