Osimhen battles Haaland, Messi, Mbappe, Eight Others For The Best FIFA Men’s Player Of The Year Award
Nigeria’s Victor Osimhen is among 12 nominees unveiled by FIFA Thursday for the Best men’s blayer of the year.
The Nigerian was in scintillating form throughout Napoli’s triumphant Serie A campaign and FIFA describes him as a ‘complete centre-forward’whose eye-catching variety of goals underlines his extraordinary talent.
Osimhen netted 26 goals to top the Serie A’s goalscoring standings in 2022/23 and became, in the process, the first African to win the league’s Golden Boot award.
The 24 year old will battle 11 others led by Manchester City’s Erling Haaland, Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi and PSG forward, Kylian Mbappe.
Haaland ended the 2022/23 campaign with an astonishing 52 goals in 53 appearances and scored six Premier League hat-tricks– the same number as every other player in the division combined.
Messi, in his final season with PSG, provided 16 Ligue 1 assists – the most in the division – and scored 16 top-flight goals.
Mbappe on the other hand spearheaded PSG’s charge to the French title, finishing as the division’s leading marksman with 29 goals and winning Ligue 1’s Player of the Season award.
Mbappe also became PSG’s all-time leading scorer when he netted his 201st goal for the club in a 4-2 win over Nantes in March 2023.
Others also in contention include Man City’s Kevin De Bruyne, Rodri, Julian Alvarez and Bernado Silva as well as former captain Ilkay Gundogan.
