Osimhen Reveals Reason He Chose Lille's Number 7 Jersey Previously Worn By 'Portuguese Mbappe'

Published: January 05, 2020

Victor Osimhen has explained why he chose to wear Lille's number seven jersey shortly after he signed a deal with the French Ligue 1 club.

Before the Nigerian joined Lille, the number was last used by Portugal U21 star Rafael Leão, who has been dubbed the Portuguese Mbappe, and it was also previously worn by Anwar El Ghazi and Sofiane Boufal who are currently on the books of Aston Villa and Southampton respectively.

"When they first presented the numbers that they had, I went for the seven because the player (Rafael Leão) is a very good player and he has a lot of talent," Osimhen said in an interview with the

"They asked me why I chose the number and I said I really wanted it because that's what my mind chose.

"When I picked the number I presented it to God also, He's the Alpha and Omega. Of course you can see everything is really going well.

"After my debut Rafael messaged me on Instagram and we had a chat about the club and I really wished him well wherever he is and he's wishing me well also, and he's my very good friend".

The number nine is Osimhen's favorite jersey number and he has worn the shirt number for the Golden Eaglets, Flying Eagles, Olympic Eagles and recently the Super Eagles following the retirement of Odion Ighalo.

And at club level, the Ultimate Strikers product was allocated the number 18 and 45 kits at Wolfsburg and RSC Charleroi respectively - both numbers adding up to nine.

Igho Kingsley