‘I hawked bottled water in Lagos traffic to survive’ – Osimhen on road to stardom

Super Eagles rave of the moment, Victor Osimhen has shared some of his experiences while growing up in the city of Lagos, where he once sold bottled water in traffic to survive.

In an exclusive interview with France Football, the Lille forward, who currently stands as the top goalscorer in Ligue 1, narrated how the early part of his life, in Olusosun in Lagos, was a struggle for survival.

Osimhen has scored six goals in eight league appearances for Les Dogues since completing his move to from Belgian club, Sporting Charleroi this summer.

“I lost my mom in October, I do not even remember the year. I was small. Three months later, my father lost his job. It was very hard for our family. My brother sold sports newspapers, my sister, oranges in the street and me, bottled water in Lagos in the middle of the traffic,” he said.

“We have to survive so we stick together. In the evening, we were all together and we gathered the money on the table. We gave everything to our big sister and she made food and organized everything.

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“Part of my life has been a struggle to survive. But that’s all I am today in the end. It’s hard to classify all that but each event has created my personality.”

He continued: “Where I grew up, people live on the other side of an open dump. With my friends, we went there every Friday or Sunday to find crampons and shoes. We stayed there a long time. It was funny! We saw it as a game but when you think about it … It was always a fight. We were looking for crampons.

“Sometimes you see, you found yourself with a Nike on the right foot and then you start looking for the other foot … And finally, you find the left foot and it’s a Reebok! My sister patched everything up and it was good. It was survival.”

“Olusosun … This is not a place that offers you promises,” he stated.

“I often think of where I come from and where I want to go. I still have a long way to go. When I think of Olusosun … This is not a place that offers you promises. But I never gave up. The path of my life has never been easy. When I come home or in my free time, I think about how I got there, the little celebrity that I have to manage. I read too.”

Osimhen first made the headlines after his superlative showing for Nigeria’s U-17 side at the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile where he won the Golden Boot and Silver Ball awards.

He has gone on to make six appearances for the senior national team, scoring one goal.

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