Former Super Eagles striker, Victor Ikpeba, has said Victor Osimhen needed to grow up and humble himself.
Ikpeba’s comments come after the Napoli striker chided the former Nigerian international for criticising him after a must-win encounter with the Black Stars of Ghana.
Nigeria failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar after it drew 1-1 with Ghana at the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja, with the visitors qualifying via the away goal rule. Osimhen had tried to put the Super Eagles ahead at different points in the match using a bicycle kick which all failed.
After the match, Ikpeba had criticised the former Lille striker for trying to showcase skills while the team was in search of a much-needed goal.
The PUNCH reported Osimhen tackled the Monaco legend stating that he (Ikpeba) could not tell him what to do on the pitch.
Ikpeba, however, in an appearance on Channels TV, stated that he could father Osimhen and believed he was a modest lad.
He advised the youngster to emulate the characters of Liverpool stars like, Sadio Mane and Mohammed Salah, and concentrate on his football career.
“I have seen the timeline of what happened, I can be the father to the young Victor, I have seen Victor before, very modest good young lad.
“A lot of things came to play, sometimes players can take decisions because of emotions and respond, so I’ve really moved on.
“Victor is one of those players that have a lot of character. He still needs to grow up, he’s not yet the finished article, he’s going to be one of our top players in the future, but he needs to humble himself and try to learn.
“It’s a learning process, he knows how many years it took him to be in Napoli so my only advice to him is to look at the way the likes of Salah, Mane carry themselves and concentrate on his footballing career,” he added.
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