By Kazeem Ajibola Shoyebo
Victor Osimhen has revealed how football’s ruthless business side left him broken, furious, and ready to quit the game entirely after he was unable to be with his dying father while playing for Lille OSC.
In a heartbreaking personal account published in The Players’ Tribune and widely reported across European media, Osimhen described the terrifying days in early 2020 when his father was hospitalized in Nigeria during the COVID-19 lockdown.
He was alone in France. Flights were grounded. Borders were shut. And time was running out.
“I kept calling my agent nonstop to arrange a private flight,” Osimhen said. “I was begging. Waiting. Again and again.”
But what shattered him most was what he discovered behind the scenes.
“A transfer deal was being discussed,” he said. “That’s when I understood the dark side of football.”
Then came the moment that destroyed him.
“One morning, I saw 20 missed calls. My brother said, ‘We lost him.’ He showed me my father so I could say goodbye.”
Osimhen snapped.
“I threw the phone. I broke everything. I completely lost control.”
His father, Patrick Osimhen, died in May 2020 while the striker remained stranded thousands of miles away.
The guilt consumed him.
“All his children were there. The only one who wasn’t there was me.”
The pain turned into rage.
“I told my agent, ‘Friday? To hell with football.’ When I returned home, I thought I might never play again.”
Just weeks later, Osimhen completed a record-breaking move to Napoli — the same transfer he believes delayed his desperate attempt to see his father alive.
Today, he stands among the world’s elite strikers.
But behind the goals, the glory, and the fame remains a son haunted by the moment football took everything from him.