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Gattuso praises ‘influential’ Osimhen after Napoli debut

Victor Osimhen, Napoli
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Napoli boss Gennaro Gattuso heaped praise on Victor Osimhen after an inspiring performance in his official debut for the club.

Victor Osimhen showed glimpses of what is to come in his debut for Napoli against Parma on Sunday afternoon.

The Partenopei failed to break their opponents up until the 63rd minute. The Nigerian forward came on in the 60th minute and played a key role in the build-up to their first goal.

14 minutes later, Napoli got their second of the game and Osimhen was once again a lively part of the build-up.

The Nigerian forward joined Napoli in a €50m deal over the summer and has looked promising so far.

Osimhen was not on the score-sheet but did just enough to please Gattuso.

“It’s not about numbers, but the principles of football,” Gattuso told DAZN as quoted by Football-Italia.

“We know Osimhen is an added bonus, but we need to run before we have quality because quality is not enough on its own. We must set out the team with the right concepts and protect the defense, but we knew that Osimhen could give us another gear in the final 20-25 minutes today.

“He is a lad who, in the 25 days I’ve been working with, I can tell doesn’t forget where he started from, who made sacrifices, lost his family very young and has the head of a 40-year-old on 21-year-old shoulders.”

“I am confident he won’t change, as he has a great attitude and at this moment is a better player than he’s so far shown on the pitch.”

Napoli take on Genoa next Sunday and Osimhen will no doubt be pushing to start from the onset and open his Serie A account.

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