Antonio Cassano has admitted to Victor Osimhen's quality after the Napoli striker's latest performance in the Serie A.
Antonio Cassano, who, in the 2000s, played for Inter Milan, AS Roma and AC Milan in the Serie A, claimed to have doubts about the former LOSC Lille striker's quality when he moved to the Serie A in 2020/21.
Osimhen was brought over to the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium for a club record fee of €70 million, also making him the most valuable African player abroad.
Napoli won the fight for his signature at a time when top European clubs wanted to pry Osimhen away from Lille.
Injury continues to plague Osimhen
Both of Osimhen's seasons at Napoli so far have been marred by injuries but the striker has shown the world how much potential he has and has become a fan favourite at the club.
Cassano, now an Italian football pundit, claimed he had doubts about Napoli's decision to pay such an amount for the Nigerian striker but has now been convinced beyond doubt of the 23-year-old's quality.
“The header scored by Osimhen is incredible, it looked like a missile,” the former Azzurri attacker said while analysing the last Serie A game week on Italian sports outlet Bobo TV.
”Napoli went to a tremendous stadium and played a great match as a great team that wants to stay connected to the others. Juventus suffered more with Sampdoria than Napoli with Hellas.
“Osimhen? I did not believe in his potential, I had many doubts and instead with the passing of the games I can say that I realised that he can become a top player in the world.”
Maldini backs Umar to succeed in LaLiga
Elsewhere, Sadiq Umar has been backed to succeed in LaLiga next season by Spanish pundit, Julio ‘Maldini' Maldonado.
The UD Almeria striker is currently tearing it up in Spain's Segunda Division and with his 15 goals, is the league's fourth top scorer this season, leading his side's title charge and promotion race to LaLiga next season.
Umar joined the Spanish side from Partizan Belgrade in the 2020/21 season and hit the ground running immediately with 20 goals and seven assists in 38 games.
This season, his 15 goals and nine assists so far is due to his four weeks away with the Super Eagles at the African Cup of Nations in Cameroon last January. Yet, his combined goal and assists tally of 24 is higher than any other in the league this season.
Maldonado has come out with praise for the striker, saying that he is specially built for La Liga.
“He is a tremendous footballer,” the pundit said.
“He has a lot of power and is able to take out defenders with sheer power. In addition, he is capable of scoring goals with good definitions.
“It is clear that he is a player who is not from the Second Division. Next year yes, he will play in La Liga; we will see if we see him with Almería, if they finally get promoted, or with another team.”
Almeria is currently second on the Segunda Division table and will achieve promotion to LaLiga next season by winning all their remaining matches.
This article was most recently revised and updated 1 year ago
