Super Eagles and Napoli striker Victor Osimhen said he felt morally destroyed and paralysed when doctors explained the extent of the facial injury he suffered during the first half of the 2021/22 Serie A season. 

Osimhen and Inter Milan defender Milan Škriniar had a clash of heads when both sides first met last season and it was the Nigerian who came off worse from the challenge fracturing his eye socket which needed to be operated upon almost immediately.

Since the operation, the Napoli star who is leading the charge for a first domestic league title for the first time since 1990 and a Champions League push has been confined to using a protective face mask any time he’s on the pitch. 

Speaking about the injury and what he felt, Osimhen told France Football that is grateful to the surgeons who ensured that he was back to playing and at his best but revealed that he was morally destroyed when he was told about the severity of the injury. 

“The club handled everything perfectly. Honestly, when Skriniar hit me, it was as if I had received a blow to the head. Ten minutes later I got up, they checked me and then took me straight to hospital.

“The surgeon was surprised, he said: ‘How can you stand up?’ The first thing I said to the doctors was: ‘What is it? Is it something serious? When will I play again?’ I think they really thought I was crazy at that moment!

“When they explained everything to me, I was practically morally destroyed. I told the doctor that I didn’t want surgery, but he explained that there was no other choice: my face had to be reconstructed. 

“It was not an easy operation, they went from the mouth to the bone. I take this opportunity to thank all the doctors, they did an exceptional job. They are the ones who then created the mask.

“The side of the mask that protects the operated part is hard. If someone hits it, it hurts. Honestly, I’m not afraid anymore.”

This season, Osimhen has scored 25 goals in 29 appearances across all competitions for Napoli.