Revealed: Stats show Liverpool target is living up to Drogba comparisons

Lille's excellent 2018/19 campaign came at a cost. Yes, Les Dogues were the second best side in France, but it saw their best players placed firmly in the shop window. Top rated player Nicolas Pepe (7.62) was sold off to Arsenal, while Thiago Mendes (7.27) made the switch to Ligue 1 rivals Lyon. AC Milan also made a move for highly rated striker Rafael Leao. 

Such a high turnaround of playing staff, including two standout performers, may have negatively impacted Lille, yet they took the departures of Pepe, Mendes and Leao in their stride and used the funds generated from their sales to good effect. One of those brought in was Nigerian youngster Victor Osimhen. Joining from Belgian outfit RSC Charleroi for close to £11m, it was a transfer that was met with trepidation. 

Osimhen bagged 19 league goals, including the playoffs, on his loan spell from Wolfsburg in 2018/19, a respectable return from someone so young, and one that warranted as high a price tag. The Lille management, though, had seen enough to convince that Osimhen would prove a success in France and were prepared to give him a chance to showcase his talents in one of Europe's top leagues. 

And the decision to give Osimhen the opportunity to flourish is one that has been justified. The 2019/20 Ligue 1 season has been cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic, yet Osimhen did more than enough in his 27 league outings to convince potential suitors he is very much the real deal. 13 league goals is the joint-fourth best return and it's helped the 21-year-old to a WhoScored rating of 7.14, that the 14th highest in France's top tier this term. 

As Osimhen has lit up Ligue 1, Premier League interest has intensified accordingly. Liverpool are the latest side to have been linked with a summer move for the young forward, so too have Manchester United and Arsenal. Fourth-placed Lille are once again one of the best sides in France and it means, for the second year running, their top talent is being hunted by those higher up the food chain. 

Considering the impact he has made for Lille, that shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. To transfer so seamlessly from one league to another is impressive and to effectively shoulder the goalscoring burden at such a young age - Osimhen has scored 37.1% of Lille's 35 league goals this term - is a feat in itself. A seasoned head would have perhaps been better suited, yet the northern French outfit placed their faith in the young forward and it has been rewarded. 

As a more old fashioned number nine striker, Osimhen has thrived and it's this style of play that would suit a Premier League side in need of attacking reinforcements, particularly one that plays a more direct style of play. Ranking second for aerial duels won (120) in Ligue 1 this season, head coach Christophe Galtier looked to make use of the forward's aerial dominance and has done so to good effect. "I’d compare him to Didier Drogba. He really makes me think of him. He has the same profile. He can do everything and he’s phenomenally powerful," Charleroi goalkeeper Nicolas Penneteau said last year and it's these comparisons that speak volumes of both his approach and the success that comes with adopting a particular style. 

Drogba took time to adjust to the rigours of Premier League football on the back of his 2004 arrival from Marseille, yet if his 2009/10 season is anything to go by - the Ivorian ended the Premier League campaign as the best rated player with 29 goals and 10 assists contributing to a WhoScored rating of 8.32 - then it's a huge compliement for Osimhen. 

A minor critique of Osimhen in his breakthrough season, though, would be his struggles to carry his excellent home form on the road. Of his 13 league goals, 10 have been netted at the Stade Pierre Mauroy. It took until the 21st of December for Osimhen to bag his first away league goal of the season, that coming in an eventual 5-1 loss at Monaco, and it's this sub-par away form that cost him a spot, at the very least, in the 10 best rated players of the 2019/20 Ligue 1 campaign. 

However, for a player at his age, the only way is up and his goalscoring pedigree and style of play means he is tailormade for bigger and better things, which, with all due respect to Lille, is away from France. Seven goals in his opening nine league appearances wasn't a mere purple patch but rather a sign of things to come and with added consistency to his game, Osimhen has the tools of the trade to take football by storm. The campaign may have ended in France's top tier, but it marked the beginning of Osimhen who will have used this breakthrough season as a foundation for a promising future for one of France's top marksmen.