Osimhen’s facial injury
Osimhen needs ‘a Christmas biological miracle’ to play at 2021 AFCON, says Surgeon
Despite being named in the provisional 28-man squad to represent Nigeria at the forthcoming 2021 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) to be hosted by Cameroun, from January, team doctor and surgeon at Italian Serie A club, Napoli FC, says the Nigerian striker can only feature in the tournament by miracle.
Napoli medical team had ruled Osimhen out of action by up to three months following an on-the-pitch collision with an Inter Milan player which saw the striker suffer facial fractures requiring surgeries.
However, the Edo-born striker for both Super Eagles and Napoli FC turned resumed physical training barely a month after the surgery to correct his facial in injuries, prompting the Nigerian football technical team to include him in the AFCON list.
The man who performed the successful surgery on Osimhen’s face, Professor Gianpaolo Tartaro has suggested that it is unlikely that Napoli striker Victor Osimhen will kick a ball in Cameroon even if he joins the Nigerian team to the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations next month.
Tartaro operated on Osimhen’s face in November after the 22-year-old suffered multiple facial fractures during a Serie A match.
At the end of the complicated but successful operation, the striker was ruled out of action for three months to heal his wounds fully.
The 2015 U-17 World Cup winner is presently in Nigeria for the holidays. Still, he is scheduled for a medical checkup in Naples on Friday to ascertain the extent of his healing via a computerized tomography (CT) scan.
Tartaro, who will oversee the checkup, insists that he expects Osimhen to stay away from a football pitch for at least another month unless a miracle happens during the festive season.
“For the formation of the calleds bone, according to world protocols, it takes from sixty to ninety days. Unless a biological miracle,” the plastic surgeon told Corriere Dello Sport, as per Tutto Napoli.
“If he does not do the CT scan, we will not be able to dissolve the prognosis. Reduced fractures must consolidate: I repeat, for the formation of the callus, you have to wait two or three months unless a Christmas biological miracle: but biology is not a fan.”
Victor Osimhen presently wears a specially designed protective facial mask in order to play.
