Osimhen Clears Air Over Quarrel With Lille Teammate

Victor Osimhen says there is no lingering bad blood between him and Lille teammate Nanitamo Ikone following their bust-up over a penalty in the 2-1 win over Montpellier in a Ligue 1 game last December.

Prior to that incident, Ikone had seemingly been reluctant to pass to the Nigerian in games and their on-field spat after the Frenchman prevented Osimhen from taking a penalty he had won was seen by many as evidence of simmering tension between the two.

However, speaking to Naijafootballers, the Super Eagles forward who is Lille’s top scorer with 14 goals said both men have a better understanding following a frank discussion about their on-pitch relationship and have now gone past their differences. 

“After some couple of games at home, we sat down, he called me to his house, and he spoke to me,” Osimhen said.

“He showed me some of my clips when I was in Charleroi, and he shows some of his assists also, so he told me, how else do I want the ball”? So I explained to him, this is the way I run, this is what I need, whenever I need the ball on the space, I know this is what he should do.

“So I think we’ve been trying to understand each other in training, and you can see we are getting better, and of course, we’ll get even more better with time,” he added.

Both men will have an opportunity of working on their blossoming partnership when Lille visit Gonfreville in the French Cup on Saturday.