Spalletti: Napoli will do everything to reduce Osimhen’s recovery period

Napoli manager Luciano Spalletti said the club will help Victor Osimhen to return to action earlier than expected after undergoing facial surgery.

Osimhen was forced to go under the knife after colliding with Inter’s Milan Skriniar in a Serie A game that fractured his cheekbone.

After almost three weeks on the sidelines, the Super Eagles forward boosted his recovery by starting individual training on Wednesday.

It marked a significant step up in his recovery process and Spalletti has disclosed that they will keep monitoring the 22-year-old.

“It will depend on the stresses he will have day after day,” Spalletti said in a press conference, via Football Italia. “We will see in the gym how he will react and based on what we will understand.

“We are very confident, knowing the lad. He is one who gives the willingness to shorten a few days, everything possible will be done.”

Osimhen has scored nine goals in 14 matches across all competitions for the Parthenopeans this season.

On Thursday, Napoli will face Leicester City in a crucial Europa League fixture that will determine their progress in the competition.

Despite losing key players like Senegal’s Kalidou Koulibaly and Cameroon’s Frank-Andre Zambo Anguissa to injury, Spalletti is upbeat about Napoli’s chances of securing all three points.

“For us they are all races from the inside out. Every time there is a need for attachment and a sense of belonging, whatever the challenge to be faced. We know the strength of Leicester and we know that we will have to give a test of great value,” the Italian coach said.

“You need to have a squad that faces any difficulty because it is a difficulty that belongs to everyone if we consider the schedule also full of commitments with the national teams. We have to be stronger than everything because the pitfalls are behind the door and we have to overcome them.

“The match against Leicester is an x-ray of the soul that the players have because there are no appeals afterwards. Either you win or you don't go around Europe anymore. So the character must be the right one to achieve high-level performance and to write a good story worthy of Napoli.”