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Victor Osimhen Hits The Ground Running At Napoli

Victor Osimhen began as he means to go on at Napoli, scoring an eight-minute hat trick in a friendly against Serie D side L'Aquila on Friday. 

Napoli made Osimhen its club-record signing earlier this month, paying Ligue 1 side Lille $77 million to secure the 21-year-old's services. The move represents a massive profit for Lille, which signed Osimhen just a year ago from Belgian side RSC Charleroi for $24.64 million. 

After struggling for playing time with Wolfsburg, the Nigerian moved to Belgium on an initial loan move and scored 20 goals in 36 games. In his lone season in France, Osimhen scored 18 goals in 38 games in the pandemic-shortened season. Napoli blew its previous transfer record out of the water (Gonzalo Higuan's $43-million arrival) to snatch up the young hitman amid rumored interest from Arsenal. 

Osimhen got his tenure with I Partenopei off to a blistering start, scoring just 59 seconds into Friday's friendly. 

He would take just minutes to score his second, before rounding off his hat trick on eight minutes to put Napoli up 4-0 in an eventual 11-0 victory over L'Aquila. 

Amaju Pinnick, president of the Nigeria Football Federation, heaped heavy praise on the talented forward upon the completion of his move to Italy, comparing him to club legend Diego Maradona

"Napoli are the right club for him to achieve important results, and Osimhen will always give his best. I’ll say it now: Victor will do everything possible to match and even break the records set by a legend like Maradona," Pinnick told Radio Kiss Kiss. 

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The 2020-21 Serie A campaign will begin on Sept. 19, with the season's fixtures set to be announced this Wednesday, Sept. 2. 

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