Nigeria’s Super Eagles star striker, Victor Osimhen has been decorated the 2022/23 Italian Footballer of the Year award at the AIC Oscar del Calcio Awards ceremony held on Monday night.
Apart from winning the individual prize, Osimhen also earned a spot in the Serie A Team of the Year alongside teammates Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Kim Min-jae.
Others included in the list are Andrea Bastoni, Theo Hernández, Rafael Leão, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Mike Maignan, Stanislav Lobotka, and Nicolo Barella.
Osimhen was instrumental for Napoli as they raced to their first Serie A title in 33 years earlier in the year.
The Nigerian scored 26 league goals to land the gong at the Italian Footballers’ Association Footballer of the Year award.
In October, Osimhen was ranked eighth in the 2023 Ballon d’Or, becoming the highest-rated Nigerian since the inception of the award. Kanu had finished 11th in 1996.
Although, he has endured a tough start to the current season due to injuries, Osimhen has not done badly as well, scoring six goals in ten games that he has played so far, placing number four on the goal scorers chart.
This is a big booster for the striker, as he is in pole position to win the African Footballer of the Year award coming in a week time. The Africa’s top player prize was won last by legendary Kanu Nwankwo in 1999. Former Nigerian captains Mikel Obi and Vincent Enyeama came close to winning the award afterwards but could only win second and third spots in 2013 and 2014 respectively.