Gernot Rohr has remained optimistic that Victor Osimhen will make a return to full match fitness ahead of next month’s African Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers against the Republic of Benin and Lesotho.
Osimhen was knocked unconscious in a scary incident during the final minutes of Sunday’s loss to Atalanta after a challenge with Cristian Romero and was stretchered off the pitch and taken directly to hospital.
Napoli have, however, officially confirmed that Osimhen will gradually resume training after his head injury with the Italian Serie A club also making plans to daily assess the Nigerian striker’s condition.
Rohr has now said that he hopes Osimhen will regain full fitness in time for the Super Eagles’ AFCON qualification matches which will take place in March.
“We hope Osimhen is back to full fitness (for the AFCON qualifiers), he’s the leading scorer,” Rohr told News Central TV.
The Eagles coach also spoke about his plan to take a closer look at several other strikers like Terem Moffi, Taiwo Awoniyi, Paul Onuachu and Sadiq Umar.
Rohr again restated his desire to see some other strikers for the qualifiers against Benin (March 22) and Lesotho (March 30).
“Moffi scored winning goals against PSG and Monaco, he’s a left-footed striker, it will be interesting to see him,” he opened up.
“There is also Awoniyi at Union Berlin and Sadiq Umar, who is doing well at Almeria, he was the Player of the Month.
“We also have Onuachu, who is scoring so many goals (in Belgium), but has some problems when he plays for Nigeria.”
Awoniyi could, however, miss out on a Super Eagles call-up for next month’s AFCON qualifiers due to a thigh injury.
Bundesliga club, Union Berlin announced the 23-year-old striker suffered a thigh muscle injury and will be out of action for “the foreseeable future”.