Victor Osimhen was denied a breakthrough at VfL Wolfsburg and is now a top striker. Jörg Schmadtke now looked back on the departure.
Wolfsburg/Naples – This departure should VfL Wolfsburg now regret! On Tuesday evening (9 p.m.) Victor Osimhen (24) will be making a guest appearance with his SSC Napoli for the round of 16 first leg Champions League at Eintracht Frankfurt. The clipper returns as part of the European strikers’ elite in the country where he was once denied his breakthrough.
Victor Osimhen (24, 2nd from right) was unable to assert himself at VfL Wolfsburg. He is now one of the best attackers in Europe. © Marius Becker/dpa
Before his rapid rise, the 24-year-old goalgetter moved to Lower Saxony from the Nigerian Ultimate Strikers Academy in 2017 for around 3.5 million euros.
The then Wolves manager Klaus Allofs (66) steered the promising raw diamond to the Autostadt, although well-known top clubs such as FC Arsenal and Inter Milan are said to have been interested in the youngster.
As a result, however, Osimhen was unable to live up to the great advance praise. He played a total of 16 competitive games for VfL, failing to score a goal.
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He was only on the pitch twice for the full 90 minutes, and injuries to the meniscus, shoulder and calf kept throwing him back.
In 2018, Jörg Schmadtke (58) finally took over the sports management in Wolfsburg. “When I came here, he was running in circles and he was limping,” the 58-year-old recalled Kicker-Interview an das Sturmjuwel.
Jörg Schmadtke explains the departure of Victor Osimhen
Ex-Wolfsburg boss Jörg Schmadtke (58) let Victor Osimhen (24) go for 3.5 million euros just a few years ago. © Julian Stratenschulte/dpa
“The statement I got at the club back then was: We don’t have a striker. The ones we have are useless,” Schmadtke continued.
Osimhen fell victim to the upheaval, was first loaned out to RSC Charleroi and then finally transferred to Belgium via an anchored purchase option at the purchase price, while the sportingly ailing wolves invested around 20 million euros in the acquisition of Wout Weghorst (30) and Daniel Ginczek (31) stuck.
“Of course it wasn’t a good move,” admitted the Düsseldorf native in retrospect.
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His successor Marcel Schäfer (38), who was then hired together with Schmadtke as sports director at VfL, continued: “When we came in the summer of 2018, Victor was practically ready to go. The step to Belgium was important for him at the time, that The environment there certainly helped him, but it was clear that he wanted to change.”
In neighboring Germany, the lightning-fast attacker took off and scored 20 goals in 36 matches. Shortly after his permanent signing, the Belgian first division club cashed in and let Osimhen move on to LOSC Lille in France for twelve million euros.
After his time at VfL Wolfsburg, Victor Osimhen developed into a top striker
Mask man Victor Osimhen (24, left) and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (22) are currently stirring up Serie A. © ALBERTO PIZZOLI / AFP
In Ligue 1, the career of the huge talent continued to gain momentum. Without needing a long period of adjustment, the clipper contributed a total of 13 goals and five assists in 27 league games in the 2019/20 season.
Napoli became aware of the 1.86 meter tall center forward and already digged deeper into their pockets the following year. The base fee of 75 million euros agreed in summer 2020 can even increase to 80 million euros through bonus payments.
A costly investment that should pay off. In the “Partenopei”, the right-footed player improved his quota in the first season to 14 stalls and five assists in 27 Serie A games.
Osimhen, who has been wearing a mask since suffering a serious eye socket injury, is currently the top scorer in Italy’s top league with an impressive 18 goals in just 19 league matches.
Together with his congenial partner Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (22), he has played a large part in the comfortable lead of the SSC, which is well on the way to its third championship title – the first since 1990 – is.
No wonder, then, that numerous top clubs are said to have put out feelers for the top scorer. The interested parties Chelsea, Manchester United and PSG would probably have to pay a sum in excess of 100 million euros for the former Wolfsburg player.
