Napoli’s Victor Osimhen breaks cheekbone, out for around three months
https://theathletic.com/news/napolis-victor-osimhen-breaks-cheekbone-out-for-around-three-months/LD6BoFDwxxtq/
Napoli striker Victor Osimhen has broken his cheekbone and is expected to be out for around three months.
Osimhen, 22, has been in fine form for high-flying Napoli this season, scoring five goals in 11 Serie A games this season.
He sustained the injury after 55 minutes of Napoli’s 3-2 loss to Inter Milan on Sunday, clashing heads with Milan Skriniar. It was Napoli’s first defeat of the season.
A Napoli statement said: “Victor Osimhen was operated on this morning by Prof. Tartaro, assisted by Dr. Mario Santagata and in the presence of Dr. Canonico, for a reduction and restraint operation of multi-fragmentary and displaced fractures of the malar bone, of the zygomatic arch and pommel, of the floor and lateral wall of the orbit, and of the diastasis of the frontal-zygomatic suture.
“The synthesis of the bone abutments was done with titanium plates and screws.
“The player is fine and will remain under observation for a few days.
“The prognosis is estimated to be around 90 days.”
Osimhen will now likely miss the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), which begins on January 9. He has scored 10 goals for the national side, in 18 appearances.
He will also miss Napoli's Europa League game against Leicester City next month. In three appearances in the competition this season, he has already scored four times.
How much of a blow is this for Napoli?
It is a huge blow for Napoli. After a first season interrupted by injury, Osimhen has been the spearhead of Luciano Spalletti’s side in 2021-22 and is Napoli’s top scorer with nine goals in 14 matches in all competitions.
Spalletti has a history of getting the best out of strikers and Osimhen has proved no different, with the Nigerian excelling at the centre of Napoli’s attacking trident.
While there is still much doubt about the future of captain Lorenzo Insigne, Osimhen’s performances have helped Napoli to the summit of Serie A as they have mounted a stern title charge.
It is perhaps no surprise that Napoli lost their first league game of the season with Osimhen absent for the majority of the second half against Inter.
What about Nigeria?
Osimhen has been in similarly excellent form for his country, scoring 10 goals in his 18 appearances.
Five of those goals came in the six qualifying matches for the upcoming AFCON tournament, as Nigeria went unbeaten and topped their group.
Osimhen is also their top scorer in World Cup qualifiers, with four goals in six.
How could he be replaced?
At Napoli, Andrea Petagna was the player called upon to replace Osimhen, but the Italian is a different type of striker to the former Lille man.
Petagna matches Osimhen for height but is far less mobile and more of a target man, and crucially is nowhere near as trusted by Spalletti, who has yet to start him in Serie A this season. The diminutive Dries Mertens has similarly only started one league game this campaign.
Nigeria, meanwhile, have a wealth of attacking options at their disposal and there has been much debate about which strikers should be selected come January.
In Osimhen’s absence, manager Gernot Rohr can call upon Leicester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho, who has been in impressive form throughout 2021, or Genk’s Paul Onuachu, scorer of 10 goals in 14 league games in Belgium this season.
Union Berlin’s Taiwo Awoniyi meanwhile has only one Nigeria cap to his name, but has eight Bundesliga goals in 12 appearances.
Watford’s Emmanuel Dennis has been in similarly impressive club form recently with four goals and five assists in 11 Premier League matches this season, but has only been capped three times under Rohr.
And that is without considering Lorient’s Terem Moffi, Nantes’ Moses Simon and Nigeria’s record-appearance holder Ahmed Musa.
