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Saturday, June 15, 2024

“I have lost respect for Finidi George,’’ says Osimhen

There were unverified reports that Finidi allegedly named Osimhen as one of the players not committed to the national team.

• June 15, 2024
Osimhen/Finidi
Osimhen/Finidi

Napoli forward Victor Osimhen has lambasted the immediate past Super Eagles Head Coach Finidi George over the latter’s unconfirmed comments on the player’s non-commitment to the national team after the striker missed two recent 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

Due to injury, Osimhen was not available for two games, the 1-1 draw against South Africa and a shocking 2-1 defeat to Benin Republic, which subsequently led to the decision by the Nigeria Football Federation to shop for a foreign technical adviser ahead of 2025 AFCON qualifiers and the remainder of the World Cup qualifiers.

There were unverified reports that Finidi allegedly named Osimhen as one of the players not committed to the national team at a federation executive committee meeting on Wednesday to find a solution to Eagles’ poor outing in the qualifiers.

Finidi, who resigned on Thursday following his demotion, was quoted as saying Osimhen could still have played in those two games but decided not to.

Visibly displeased by the reports questioning his commitment to the Super Eagles, Osimhen went live on Instagram account to address the issue, stating he had always given his best when representing the Super Eagles or Napoli.

He said, “I’m not ready to address anything. People should believe what they want to believe about me. They know that whether playing for my club or Nigeria, I always play my heart out. I don’t care, I let everything go but I will not allow this disrespect from anybody.”

He noted that he informed Finidi the details regarding his injury and even went to the extent of making video evidence during a session with his doctor which the former Enyimba manager joined via phone call during Osimhen’s trip to Germany to see his child.

He said, “I’m not dumb, I know something like this will happen. Immediately I did the MRI and the next day, the doctor called me and I went to his office. I called Finidi immediately as he (doctor) was talking to me. He was on the call, I also informed one of my guys to make a video as the doctor and I was speaking to Finidi which I will post after the live session. I do not care if what Finidi said is true or not.’’

Speaking further, the 25-year-old stated, “I called Finidi George and asked him to allow me to stay with the players in the camp and motivate them and I also spoke with some of my teammates, but Finidi asked me not to bother that I should stay with my family.”

“I have lost every respect I have for him (Finidi George),” he said.

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