Napoli coach, Walter Mazzarri, has revealed uncertainty surrounding Victor Osimhen’s fitness recently.
Mazzarri said the Napoli’s striker is not 100 per cent ready for action while speaking in the post-match interview after Napoli’s 1-1 draw with Genoa via TMW.
Walter Mazzarri commented on star man Victor Osimhen’s absence from the squad for the stalemate.
He talked about the dip in fitness levels for the Nigerian since coming back from the just concluded 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
He said, “According to him and the doctors, the boy was at his lowest. He had contractures, and returning from the Africa Cup of Nations he wasn’t the best case of risking it to let him play for a quarter of an hour to twenty minutes, so the doctor told me. Everyone would have done as we did, as the player himself also wanted.”
Osimhen returned to training on Friday after his participation at the AFCON.
The 25-year-old was not included in the matchday squad as Napoli battled to a 1-1 draw against Genoa on Saturday.
The striker is focused on training to rediscover his fitness after playing seven games in one month in Cote d’Ivoire.
Mazzarri confessed that the talismanic forward is not fully fit and it would have been risky to play him against Genoa.
“According to him and the medics, he was down to his last legs. He had a series of muscular issues and it would’ve been madness to play him here for 15 minutes and then risk losing him for months,” Mazzarri said after the game.
“It was wise, as the player himself agreed, to rest better and hope he can be ready for Barcelona. I say hope because I barely ever worked with Osimhen due to injuries and the Africa Cup of Nations, he was never in shape.”
Napoli will host Barcelona in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 contest at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium on Tuesday.
