Super Eagles forward Victor Osimhen on Monday threatened to leave the team’s camp in Morocco and return to Galatasaray following his on-field clash with Ademola Lookman during Nigeria 4-0 win over Mozambique in their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations round of 16 match.
The incident occurred in the 62nd minute when Mr Osimhen lashed out at Mr Lookman following what appeared to be a disagreement over a pass, with the Galatasaray forward caught on camera telling the latter “listen to me, it is a team game.”
Subsequently, Mr Osimhen, whom captain Wilfred Ndidi tried to calm, signalled to head coach Eric Chelle to sub him off and immediately stopped taking part in the match before he was eventually replaced by Moses Simon in the 68th minute.
Mr Osimhen’s outburst continued after the final whistle as he stormed down the tunnel to the dressing room, refusing to celebrate the victory and participate in the traditional hurdle on the pitch with his teammates.
A source who spoke with the Peoples Gazette on condition of anonymity said that it was inside the dressing room that the 27-year-old player angrily dropped off his accreditation tag, threatened to quit the tournament and return to his club with immediate effect.
Speaking further, the source said it was unclear whether the issue between Mr Osimhen and his teammates had been resolved.
Meanwhile, Mr Lookman downplayed the incident as a mere on-field incident while addressing reporters at the post match press conference, stating, “The team won 4-0. Vic is our number one guy. Everybody knows this. He is a top striker and a top player. All the rest of that is not important.”
He added, “There’s no issue,” Lookman continued. “It’s just football. Always football. He (Osimhen) is my brother.”
Commenting on the situation, head coach Eric Chelle stressed that what happens on the pitch stays there, noting that he would talk to the players privately about the issue.
“What happened on the pitch will stay with the group. I don’t need to tell people what happened. I will keep that for the group and me. We will talk afterwards,” he stated.
“We just won one game. If we want to be ambitious, we must keep the quality on the pitch. And you know positive dynamics can easily turn to negative ones,” the coach said. “My job now is to keep the players very focused on their training sessions and their behaviour.”
The team’s media officer, Promise Efoghe, did not immediately respond to a request seeking for comment on the issue as messages and phone calls to his WhatsApp number were unanswered.
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