Osimhen remains under observation in hospital after head injury

Nigeria and Napoli striker Victor Osimhen remains under watch in hospital after being knocked unconscious during the final minutes of Sunday’s Italian league match at Atalanta.

Osimhen fell awkwardly after a collision with Atalanta defender Christian Romero and hit his head on the field. The Nigerian international was conscious as he was stretchered off and rushed to the hospital.

Napoli released a brief statement afterwards.

“Victor Osimhen suffered an injury to his head in the final minutes of Napoli’s match at Atalanta. Following the game, he underwent medical tests but they did not yield a conclusive result.

“The player will remain in Bergamo until tomorrow` (today), under the observation of Raffaele Canonico, who leads the medical team at Napoli”.

The incident occurred in stoppage time of Atalanta’s 4-2 win over Napoli.

Osimhen joined Napoli from Lille at the end of July for a fee of around 80 million euros. He was injured on international duty in November and then tested positive for coronavirus over the winter break.

The 22-year-old only returned to action in late January after an absence of more than two months.

The Nigeria international has played just 16 games across all competitions for Napoli this season, scoring twice and providing one assist for Gennaro Gattuso’s side.

Sunday’s defeat sees the Parthenopeans drop to seventh in the league table, 13 points adrift of league leaders Inter while they trail Atalanta, who occupy fourth position, by three points.