Osimhen nearing personal record as Napoli prepare for Mourinho’s AS Roma

Victor Osimhen heads into Napoli’s next Serie A clash against AS Roma with a milestone in his sights.

The Nigeria international got a goal as the Parthenopeans suffered a 3-2 home defeat against Fiorentina - which dented their chances of lifting the domestic diadem.

Should he find the net against Jose Mourinho’s men on Monday, he will equal his record of goals scored in a single European league season.

During the 2019-20 season at Lille, Osimhen found the net on 13 occasions - a feat that inspired his move to the Italian elite division giants. A brace will see the Lagos-born striker eclipse that record. 

Impressively, the Super Eagle has been directly involved in six goals (5 goals, 1 assist) in his last three Serie A games. 

He is the first Nigerian in history to reach double figures in two different Italian elite division campaigns.

Tammy Abraham (nine goals) and Victor Osimhen (seven goals) are the two foreign strikers have scored the most Serie A goals in 2022.

England international of Nigerian origin Abraham has scored more goals than any other English player in Europe’s big five leagues this season (15), while the only Nigerian to score as many goals as Osimhen (12) is Union Berlin’s Taiwo Awoniyi.

Napoli and Roma will face for the 150th time in Serie A; 51 of the previous 149 matches ended in draws with 46 wins for the Campani, 52 for the Capitolini. Only against Torino have the Blues drawn more games in the Italian top-flight (55).

Luciano Spalletti's men currently occupy the third spot on the log having accrued 66 points from 32 outings.

Despite scoring against Fiorentina, manager Spalletti claimed the 23-year-old was not in great shape.

“Osimhen still doesn’t realise the distance from his marker, sometimes he runs towards the ball and has the time and space to control, pick his spot. He doesn’t need to rush,” he told DAZN as quoted by Football Italia.

“He can start a run from midfield; take on four or five defenders by himself with that pace, so he has such potential.”

Thanks to an impressive debut season in Ligue 1 he moved to Naples in a deal reported to be worth €50 million (£45m/$59m).