Victor Osimhen
Super Eagles’ 2022 AFCON, World Cup hopes suffer blow as Osimhen undergoes major surgery
Nigeria’s participation at the forthcoming African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in January, and the FIFA World Cup in Qatar in November/December, all in 2022 has been dealt a major blow following the serious injury suffered by the Super Eagles leading scorer at the qualifiers, Victor Osimhen at his club in Italy, weekend.
Osimhen who was taken off just before the half-hour mark in the match between his club Napoli and Inter Milan, which had ended in a 2-3 loss for the Serie leaders, suffered a serious injury after he clashed with an Inter player contesting an aerial ball.
Osimhen Milan’s Škriniar were involved in a clash of heads incident at the San Siro Stadium home ground of Inter. The two clashed inside Inter’s penalty box as they jumped to compete for a cross from Hirving Lozano. Both players needed treatment after the clash, but it was Osimhen who came off worse.
The defeat also ended Napoli’s high-flying unbeaten run in the Italian Seria A this season.
According to Napoli medical team, Osimhen fractured his orbit (eye socket area) and cheekbone in their Italian Serie A match against Inter Milan on Sunday evening.
Napoli said afterwards that Osimhen will have to undergo surgery, which will happen in a few days.
“The instrumental tests carried out on Victor Osimhen at the end of the Inter-Napoli match revealed multiple displaced fractures of the orbit and of the left cheekbone.
The player will undergo surgery in the next few days and will remain under observation at the Niguarda Hospital in Milan tonight,” Napoli’s statement read.
Africa Cup of Nations, which begins on January 9, 2022, while the FIFA World Cup runs from November to December, next year.
Although it is not clear yet when he is likely to return, a cheekbone and orbit surgery take a combined nine weeks to heal, according to reports.
Osimhen is Nigeria’s leading scorer with four goals in matches during the AFCON and World Cup qualifiers.
