Peseiro claims Osimhen loves Napoli as the club expects the player to return this week.

Super Eagles coach José Peseiro has said that despite recent tensions between Napoli and Victor Osimhen, the Eagles star loves playing for the Italian club.

“He (Osimhen) has enormous mental strength. In light of everything he’s been through, he reacted like a champion and working with us, he’s shown that. He’s sad because he’s injured and can’t do what he loves most, which is to play for Napoli. Thanks to his abilities, for what he has shown, he has and will always have the best clubs in the world who want him,” José Peseiro told Sport Italia.

Meanwhile, after spending about two weeks in Nigeria and Germany, Osimhen is expected back in Italy to work on his return from a second-grade thigh strain. He continued to follow his protocol while abroad, but he’s not yet in its later stages.

His absence from the training center hasn’t impacted his timetable according to  Il Mattino newspapers.

Osimhen is expected to resume playing either against Atalanta on November 25th or a few days late versus Real Madrid in the highly-anticipated rematch of the recent Champions League encounter.

In the meantime, Giacomo Raspadori has brilliantly picked up the slack for Osimhen, scoring three times on the trot. Coach Rudi Garcia stated that the presence of the Nigerian star was the only problem for the Italian starlet. The coach has repelled the murmurs about a potential imminent tactical change (via Sky).

“Moving on from 4-3-3 hinges on the moment, the opponents, and the competition. It’s obviously a possibility, as I said at the beginning of the season. I’ve nothing to explain to the player when we use it. However, our adversaries have studied it too. We need other weapons too. We proved it in the second half of the Milan game.”

Osimhen will be on the stands for the upcoming Union Berlin fixture. A potential permanent switch to 4-2-3-1, with Raspadori joining him upfront, will be postponed till his return.