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Super Eagles forward Victor Osimhen has had a phenomenal season with Napoli and he deserves a perfect ending by breaking Nigeria's 24-year jinx to become the African Player of the Year
Nigeria’s Victor Osimhen has been in impeccable form during the 2022/23 season, smashing records and winning accolades along the way.
With the end-of-season awards set to take place soon, the Super Eagles forward will be a shoo-in for a number of accolades, including the prestigious African Player of the Year award for 2023.
Given the season that Osimhen has had, he is a sure shot to follow in the footsteps of Nigerian greats like Nwankwo Kanu and Emmanuel Amunike in being named the best footballer on the continent.
We have compiled 5 major reasons why the Super Eagles star is set to break the 24-year-old jinx of Nigerian players with the African Player of the Year award.
5 reasons why Victor Osimhen is the African Player of the Year
Top African goal-scorer in the top five leagues
Osimhen’s incredible 2022/23 season has been exemplified by his outstanding goal-scoring.
The sensational forward has scored 28 goals in all competitions this season, including 22 for Napoli in Serie A.
His glut of goals in the Italian top flight means that he is the top African goalscorer of this campaign in the top five European leagues, with Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah the closest to Osimhen, thanks to his 18 Premier League goals so far this season.
Only three players in Europe’s top five leagues have scored more league goals than Osimhen, with the Nigerian being the only African player to have crossed 20 goals so far.
His impressive individual performances have put him on the radar for major end-of-season awards, and the African Player of the Year should be no exception.
Winning Napoli’s first Serie A title since 1990
A lot of awards come down to the narratives and strong stories individuals have written during the campaign, and few stories are as powerful as Napoli winning their first Serie A title since 1990 when they were guided by Argentine legend Diego Maradona.
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The biggest hero in Napoli’s story this season has been Osimhen, with the Super Eagles forward topping his fantastic season by scoring the all-important goal that secured the title for Napoli.
The story that Osimhen has written with Napoli this season is one of the most compelling in the 2022/23 season and certainly one of the best ones to come out of the African continent.
Other African players have not been as consistent
Unfortunately, the 2022/23 season has been somewhat dull in terms of impressive individual performances by African players, with last year’s winner Sadio Mane struggling desperately for form since his move to Bayern Munich, while runner-up, Salah and Liverpool have failed to hit the heights expected of them.
In addition to this, third-place Edouard Mendy has struggled to cement his place as number one at Chelsea in the face of lingering injuries.
In addition to this, the best performers for Morocco at the 2022 FIFA World Cup have also struggled for consistency during the rest of the 2022/23 club campaigns, with Hakimi making more headlines off the pitch than on it for Paris Saint-Germain, while Yaccine Bounou and Youssef En-Nesyri flirted with LaLiga relegation for the most part of the season.
The lack of consistency among the usual suspects for the African Player of the Year has also left the door open for Osimhen to coast to victory.
Incredible individual records from this season
With his 22nd goal of the 2022/23 Serie A campaign, Osimhen became the African player with the most goals in a single Italian top-flight season, breaking Samuel Eto’o Fills’ 12-year record in the competition.
This was just one of many records that Osimhen has managed to conquer during the season, as he has also become the top-scoring African in Serie A history, drawing level with former Ballon d’Or winner George Weah on 46 goals, despite playing 37 fewer games than the illustrious Liberian forward.
Osimhen also helped Napoli to their first UEFA Champions League quarterfinal with three goals over two legs against Frankfurt in the round of 16 and became the first Partenopei player to score in the competition’s quarterfinals.
He also became the first player since Juventus’ Cristiano Ronaldo to score in eight consecutive Serie A matches and the youngest player this century to achieve this feat.
AFCON qualifiers' top scorer
Despite not being able to guide Nigeria to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Osimhen was still the country’s top scorer in qualifying with four goals in eight matches, doing his best to further the Super Eagles’ cause.
He continued his impressive form with the Super Eagles during the AFCON 2023 qualifiers with five goals to sit atop the scorer’s chart for the qualifying series.
Even his performances with the Super Eagles of Nigeria have shown his individual quality even when the team has not excelled. Moreover, the African Player of the Year award is an individual award, and his national team performance gives him an edge, not a disadvantage.
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