Ex-Eagles star tells Osimhen what he must do to keep his goalscoring form
Ex-Super Eagles forward Odion Ighalo wants new rave of the moment Victor Osimhen to keep working hard and improving.
Ighalo called time on his international career in July following Nigeria’s third-place finish at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, claiming the Golden Boot after scoring five goals in Egypt.
Since his retirement, Osimhen was handed the no. 9 shirt and has been in outstanding form for the Gernot Rohr’s side which earned Nigeria back-to-back wins in their first two Group L qualifying games for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.
The France-based forward helped Nigeria overturn a goal deficit against Benin with his equalizer in their 2-1 victory last Wednesday, before putting up a five-star performance in their 4-2 win over Lesotho where he bagged a brace and two assists on Sunday.
Reacting to Osimhen’s heroics, Ighalo, who lead the Eagles attack line for four-year urged the Lille talisman not to lose focus despite all the accolades.
“I always told him that he has everything it takes to lead this attack, but it all depends on him,” Ighalo was quoted as saying to ESPN.
“I told him he has to keep working hard, stay humble and always be ready to learn, and above all not to get carried away with success or hype but just to keep improving.”
Meanwhile, Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr is full of praise for Osimhen’s progress despite his limited playing time when Ighalo was active in the national team.
“I took him already in my first match, remember. Everybody was surprised. He was 17 when I selected him in August 2016,” Rohr said.
“He was in Germany and unlucky with injury, and then he fought very well to come back.
Former Nigeria striker Ighalo warns Osimhen not to get carried away by the hype https://t.co/mvE6tWUpCF pic.twitter.com/nPzanMAvJp
— SportsGridUK (@Sportsgriduk) November 19, 2019
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“And now I have very good information on him from Lille. He is progressing, and also I saw him progressing for seven weeks before and during the Afcon. Also, we had Ighalo, so he could not play so much, but then in the last match he did well and he showed all the progress he did.
“He is working well. There is no secret. When you work well and you have the talent and you stay humble, you can succeed and he can even improve because he is still very young.”