Victor Osimhen has been named Footballer of the Year at the prestigious 72nd Milliyet Sports Awards, capping another outstanding spell in Turkish football.
The award, widely regarded as one of the highest individual honours in Turkey, recognises Osimhen’s pivotal role in Galatasaray’s domestic double-winning campaign last season.
The prolific striker delivered remarkable numbers, scoring 26 league goals and providing four assists in 30 appearances for the Yellow and Reds. He further underlined his importance by adding seven goals in the UEFA Europa League and five more in the Turkish Cup.
Osimhen has maintained his fine form this season, registering 19 goals and seven assists in 29 matches across all competitions, reinforcing his status as one of Europe’s most consistent forwards.
Recently, the Super Eagles and Galatasaray striker, recounted how a senior Nigerian international player turned him away from a hotel room door during his first call-up to the national team in 2017, before Kelechi Iheanacho intervened and welcomed him inside.
He Osimhen Named Turkey’s Best Player After Outstanding Season With Galatasaraymade the revelation during a Twitch livestream with comedian Carter Efe in the early hours of Saturday, speaking from Nigeria where he is recuperating from a broken arm sustained during Galatasaray’s UEFA Champions League match against Liverpool.
The Galatasaray forward said he had approached Iheanacho’s hotel room intending to pay his respects to the then-Manchester City striker, only to be turned away at the door by his roommate.
“When I came, I met Iheanacho. And I told him, ‘ah, see me, I’m gonna carry your boots.’ So he said I should come to his room so, he gave me his room number.
“So, as I got to his room — I don’t just want to mention the name — he had a roommate. So, as I knocked on the door, the roommate opened the door. So, he like bounced me out of the room,” Osimhen said.
Osimhen declined to name the player who sent him away but noted that the individual was a prominent figure in Nigerian football at the time.
Iheanacho, he said, was displeased when he discovered what had happened.
“Iheanacho showed up and was angry at him, saying, ‘you see that someone came to see me in my room and you are chasing him from my room.’ So Iheanacho took my hand and took me inside,” he said.
The incident dates to 2017, the year Osimhen made his early appearances in the Super Eagles set-up before establishing himself as one of Africa’s foremost strikers.
