When Victor Osimhen battled relegation with Wolfsburg
Eintracht Frankfurt hosted perhaps the most exciting team in Europe, SSC Napoli, in a memorable Champions League round of 16 match. In Serie A, the Neapolitans are clearly on course for the Scudetto. Osimhen, a player whom VfL Wolfsburg couldn't get rid of fast enough in 2018, has played a big part in this.
To be honest, until recently I had completely forgotten that Osimhen had ever played in the Bundesliga. A brief side note in an article about Serie A had only brought it to my attention again - Osimhen had been described as an ex-Wolfsburg player. We sports journalists are constantly on the lookout for substitute words. HSV becomes "die Rothosen", SC Freiburg becomes "die Breisgauer". In an attempt to prevent word repetition, I was led on a search for clues.
First, I asked in the editorial office if anyone remembered Osimhen at Wolfsburg, a colleague I hold in high esteem replied with: "Yes, I had him on Comunio at the time. It's unbelievable that he plays like this now." What Comunio is or was, we can gladly clarify another time. What is clear, however, is that for a long time, Osimhen also seemed to be a lightweight at Wolfsburg.
The Dream of Europe Becomes a Dreary Reality
Before Victor Osimhen was allowed to be registered as an official player in Wolfsburg on January 1st 2017 - a few days after his 18th birthday, because FIFA regulations prohibited a transfer to Europe before he came of age. He had already completed his first training sessions with seasoned Bundesliga professionals such as Mario Gómez and Jakub Blaszczykowski.
VfL's interest in Osimhen was explained by his magnificent performances at the 2015 U17 World Cup. He won the title with Nigeria at the tournament in Chile. He came to Germany after 10 goals in seven games, and Osimhen was crowned top scorer by a clear margin.
Less than a year and a half later, VfL's then-managing director Klaus Allofs announced cooperation with Osimhen's club in Nigeria: "We are very pleased to welcome the Ultimate Strikers Academy as VfL Wolfsburg's first international cooperation partner. It is a great advantage for talented players like Victor Osimhen to be able to get to know the training and working procedures of European professional clubs at a selective stage while they are still young."
Osimhen should serve as a figurehead for the cooperation project. A transfer fee of 3.5 million euros was paid. Expectations were high, VfL Wolfsburg had finished the previous season in eighth place. Now they wanted to attack European business, but after a miserable start to the season, the euphoria quickly fizzled out. They took six points from the first nine matches, while Dieter Hecking was replaced by Valerien Ismael. While the team in Lower Saxony was still busy ignoring reality, which was the relegation battle, the deal with the Ultimate Strikers Academy was already in place.
When Osimhen began training with the professionals, it quickly became apparent that his body was not yet able to cope with the increased strain of top European football. Sometimes he was absent due to knee pain, sometimes his calf ached, and sometimes his shoulder hurt. In addition, the people who had brought him in soon had to leave the club.
The persistent lack of success provided neither coach Ismael nor managing director Allofs with valid arguments. Both had still been employed by VfL during the negotiations, but Allofs was already absent at the subsequent presentation. He had been replaced by Olaf Rebbe. In February 2017, Ismael also had to leave and Andries Jonker came in. But the personnel changes did not help, the team slid deeper and deeper into the relegation battle. On matchday 34, it was all or nothing in the away game against HSV. In the event of a defeat, VfL would probably slip into a relegation spot - and that's exactly what happened.
Relegation battle: not good ground for an 18-year-old
The match at the Volksparkstadion was lost 2-1. Afterwards, Osimhen, who had only been on the pitch for a few minutes, was partly blamed for the defeat, among other things for his "amateurish tackling" before the decisive goal.
Osimhen did not find things easy at all. Mistakes on the pitch were evident, the existential pressure was gigantic. In addition, there was a foreign culture and language barrier. There was no compatriot in the squad to help him integrate. Hardly anyone had the nerve to deal sensitively with the young talents.
Rebbe, the 38-year-old Allofs successor, did not live up to the expectations either. He was presented by the media as a great talent, as an example of the new, young path that Wolfsburg wanted to take in the face of the crisis. But he never lived up to the praise he received. Whether it was Paul-Georges Ntep or Riechedly Bazoer, none of Rebbe's new signings ever caught fire. In May 2018, he too was history and was replaced by Jörg Schmadtke; Jonker in turn. was replaced by Martin Schmidt in September 2017.
It doesn't take much imagination to realise that a talented teenager could hardly develop positively in such precarious circumstances. He was rarely given playing time. He once told Sport1 about his time in Wolfsburg: "The weather, the language, the food. It was my first time in Europe, I was just 18 years young and didn't have enough time to acclimatise."
The dream of becoming a professional footballer, a world star, was in danger of being dashed. A club that dreamed of the Champions League but struggled to beat a poor Eintracht Braunschweig in the relegation battle (two 1-0 wins) was not the right place for Osimhen. In 15 appearances, he did not score a goal and did not provide a single assist. The opportunity to gain experience on loan at Belgian first division club RSC Charleroi came in very handy. It was there that his personal success story would begin: in 34 competitive games for Charleroi, he scored 19 goals and provided four assists.
Charleroi knew of his talent
The club had wisely secured an option to buy him for 3.5 million euros. Charleroi made a big profit just one month later, transferring him to Lille for 22.4 million euros. He also proved his scoring prowess in Ligue 1. The current PSG coach, Christophe Galtier, led the northern French side to fourth place. Osimhen was an ever-present in attack. But how could this have happened to VfL? How could a talent simply be sold without a guilty conscience?
It can never be ruled out that highly talented players completely fall through the radar despite sophisticated scouting systems and detailed data collection. But it is one thing to watch a talent, not suspect his true potential, and consciously decide against signing him for sporting or financial reasons. It's another thing to have a top talent right under your nose, and then to purposely push him away from him from the club.
It sounds harsh, but the tough relegation battle had completely contaminated the mood in Wolfsburg. There was not the necessary calm for sound judgement, no heed for Osimhen's needs. In an interview with Kicker, Jörg Schmadtke impressively described the lack of appreciation for the noble jewel: "The statement I got at the club at the time was: we don't have a striker. The ones we have are not usable."
After only one season with Lille, Napoli paid 75 million euros for his services. Anyone who doubted at the time whether he could replace the recently departed centre-forwards Fernando Llorente and Arkadiusz Milik was proved wrong.
In 2022/23, he is a decisive factor in the title race with his 18 league goals so far. He leads the scoring charts ahead of world champion Lautaro Martinez. Under Luciano Spalletti, he took another big step forward. Both tactically and physically.
He is now much more athletic and can work with his back to the opponent's goal. It is not only his goals that make him so important for Napoli: Osimhen is able to secure balls, shield them and thus give his teammates time to move up into the final third. Combine that with his speed, his ruthlessness in front of goal and his skills on the ball, and you have a complete world-class striker.
Victor Osimhen has a contract at the club that runs until 2025. However, it is highly likely that he will leave the club sooner, as all the top clubs in the Premier League are said to be interested. So he may bring Napoli not only their first championship title in over 30 years, but also a lot of money. Money that once slipped through the fingers of VfL Wolfsburg.
