With 37 games played so far in the Italian serie A this season, Super Eagles and Napoli attacker Victor James Osimhen is edging closer to becoming the first African to be crowned with the Capocannoniere crown, Owosports.com.ng reports.
The striker netted a brace on Sunday in their 2-2 draw with Bologna to take his goal tally to 25 for the season four more than his closest challenger, Argentine Lautaro Martínez of Inter Milan who has 21 goals to his name.
The former Lile of France striker has however led Napoli to their 3rd serie A title for the first time 33 years but there is still all to play for the Nigerian who has his eyes set on the Serie A top scorer award the ‘Capocannoniere’.
The Nigerian could make history and become the first-ever African to win the ‘Capocannoniere’ next weekend.
No African has historically won the serie A top scorer award, not even Ballon Do’or winner George Weah who was before now the most prolific African in Serie A history with 46 goals in 114 appearances all for AC Milan. He won the Ballon d’Or in 1995 as an AC Milan player
However, the legendary Ballon d’Or winner never came close to becoming Capocannoniere winner as he only managed 13 goals in his most prolific Serie A season in 1996/97.
Senegalese winger Keita Balde had an impressive 2016/17 campaign for Lazio when he scored 16 goals but still finished a long way behind Edin Dzeko who won the award for that season with 29 Serie A goals.
Nigerian striker Simy Nwankwo put up an unlikely, yet credible challenge for Capocannoniere in the 2020/21 season when he scored 20 goals for Crotone.
Nigerian Simy Nwankwo had the second-best scoring season by any African in Serie A history, Simy’s goals couldn’t stop 19th-placed Crotone from getting relegated but his tally was the joint-fifth highest in the league that season, nine behind Cristiano Ronaldo who claimed the golden boot.
The closest an African came was in the 2010/11 season when Samuel Eto’o scored 21 goals for Inter Milan to finish third in the race.
The Cameroonian striker was outshined by Napoli’s Edinson Cavani with 26 goals and Antonio Di Natale who scored 28 goals for Udinese.
Osimhen who has already established himself as the most prolific African striker in the Serie A in a season, has surpassed George Weah’s record for the African with the most serie A goals with 49 goals, he has also surpassed Cameroonian striker Samuel Eto’o ( 21) for the most goal scored by an African in a single Serie A season with 25 goals to his name so far this season.
Victor Osimhen who has had the best season of his career for Napoli this season could be the first African Striker to win the ‘Capocannoniere’ should it remain this way when the Serie A comes to an end next weekend.
Final serie game of the season will come up on June 4th 2023 as champions Napoli welcome Sampdoria, while Inter Milan will be away to Torino.