The curious case of Victor Osimhen, the face of the Super Eagles of Nigeria, and his club side, Napoli in Serie A, is the talking point across all football circles currently.
Nigerians have come out in support of their star boy after Napoli’s social media staff made a crude joke about the player’s missed penalty in their draw with Bologna on matchday 5.
The official Super Eagles account on social media platform X also put out content in support of him.
While both parties resolve their issues, here are other Nigerian players who have had issues with their clubs.
Una Dey whine? @victorosimhen9
Admin dey vex like this #SoarSuperEagles #LetsDoThisAgain pic.twitter.com/iFqTM7tQ4K
— 🇳🇬 Super Eagles (@NGSuperEagles) September 26, 2023
Sylvester Igbonu | Super Eagles Caps: 6
Sylvester Igbonu (also known as Sylvester Igboun in some circles), is a forward who first made his appearance for the Super Eagles of Nigeria in 2015.
He has earned six caps to date but is now out of the list of players to be considered for a place in the three-time Africa Cup of Nations winners' future squads.
This is mainly due to the quality of players that are being followed and also due to his current predicament of being without a club. There is a story to this, however.
Igbonu, who has had stints with FC Midtjylland and Dynamo Moscow in Russia, was most recently signed to Indian Super League club, NorthEast United.
Igbonu joined the club in September 2022, a few months after leaving Ukraine due to the Russia-Ukraine war just four weeks after signing for FK Nizhny Novgorod.
Igbonu would end up spending only one month at the club before clashing with the management over the poor state of accommodation provided to him and his family as they settled into the city.
In October 2022, the then-32-year-old forward left the club after various complaints and calls to provide better accommodation fell on deaf ears. He has been without a club since.
It was later discovered that the club’s other signings were unhappy about the accommodation issues but that Igbonu was the most vocal about it.
The Super Eagles player was also the first to leave following a failure to turn the club’s management's attention to the issues.
Peter Osaze Odemwingie | Super Eagles Caps: 65
Peter Osaze Odemwingie is one of the Super Eagles' most recognisable players for many reasons.
He made his debut for the Nigeria national football team in 2002 at a time when Nigerian players born in the diaspora were not commonplace in the scheme of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
He enjoyed a solid career with the three-time African champions but was unfortunate to miss the 2013 AFCON triumph due to a dispute with the late coach Stephen Keshi.
The now-42-year-old forward has always been one to court trouble, having also fallen out with former Super Eagles coaches, Lars Lagerbäck and the late Shaibu Amodu.
His club career was not free of controversies either but the most prominent one was his issue with West Bromwich Albion in 2013.
During the January transfer window of the 2012/2013 season, Odemwingie tried to force a move to Queens Park Rangers. The move stalled and eventually fell through, but Odemwingie kept at it.
He arrived at QPR’s grounds on transfer deadline day and was captured by Sky Sports journalists trying to get into the QPR grounds to force the move.
He was eventually punished by West Brom and ended up leaving them for Cardiff City at the end of the season.
This article was most recently revised and updated 1 month ago
