Posted by Samuel on Sun 30th Jun, 2024 - tori.ng
Finidi was alleged to have faulted the commitment of some players before picking out Osimhen for making himself unavailable.
Nigeria's sports minister, John Enoh, has addressed Napoli striker Victor Osimhen's recent social media criticism of former Super Eagles coach Finidi George for the first time.
Earlier this month, it was alleged that Finidi George questioned Osimhen's commitment to the squad after he had missed the 2026 World Cup qualifiers against South Africa and the Benin Republic.
Finidi was alleged to have faulted the commitment of some players before picking out Osimhen for making himself unavailable.
He was quoted to have said he can’t beg Osimhen to play for the national team after the player withdrew from their last two 2026 World Cup qualifiers due to injury.
Reacting to the comments attributed to Finidi, Osimhen claimed he reached out to Finidi about his injury, and had wanted to fly down to be with the players in camp which the former coach declined.
He said, “I knew things like these would happen and that’s why I have the videos and screenshots of when I called Finidi while I was with the doctor in Germany.
“I got injured in our (Napoli’s) last game against Lecce and I went to the MRI scan. And I called Finidi there for him to listen to the doctor too.
“I asked Finidi George to allow me stay with the players in the camp, but Finidi asked me not to bother that I should stay with my family.
“I’m not addressing anything, everybody knows I play my heart out whenever I’m playing for the club or national team. I’ll share the screenshot and videos of my conversation with Finidi for the sake of those believing what Finidi said.
“I’ve lost respect for that man because before I disrespect anybody, I always respect them.
Since the outburst, Osimhen has refused to apologise even after it was denied that Finidi didn't make such comments about him
Speaking with Eagle7 FM Radio, The Sports Minister addressed the outburst for the time, saying he's ordered the NFF not to make a pronouncement on the matter until they have heard from Osimhen.
“There has been a plethora of opinions on this,” he said. “Osimhen is a Trojan for Nigeria, but it was a low.
“I told the NFF not to make a pronouncement on this before they have engaged Osimhen. This is so especially because these are not the best of times for Nigeria football and we have to manage a lot of things.
“The NFF have to be focused and not be distracted.”