Napoli have been hit with a major bad news as in-form Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen has been ruled out of the club’s crucial Serie A clash against AC Milan on Sunday due to a muscle injury which could rule him out of action for weeks.

The Nigeria international who returned from the international break with the Super Eagles where he featured in their 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying doubleheader against Guinea-Bissau missed the team’s training session at the SSCN Konami Training Center.

Osimhen had returned from the international break with complaints about pains in his left abductor area and tests carried out confirmed his muscle injury which could leave him on the sidelines for weeks and see him miss several Serie A and UEFA Champions League games.

The club in a statement on Friday said, “Osimhen, since his return with the national team, accusing a nuisance in his left adductor, underwent tests which showed a distractive injury. His condition will be evaluated next week.”

The 24-year-old has been in superb form for the Italians this season scoring a total of 25 goals in 29 appearances across all competitions with 21 of them coming in the domestic league in 23 games. His goals has hugely contributed to their domestic league title chase as they sit 19 points off second placed Lazio and a place in the quarter-finals of the Champions league. 

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has confirmed that the Nigerian will be out for weeks but he’s hopeful he’ll return for the quarter finals against Milan. “He should be out for a couple of weeks, we hope,” said the President.

“These (Napoli vs Milan) are games where any result could happen, you can never know. Milan have some great players, they too are missing someone, and we hope it will be a balanced, entertaining match for the two sets of fans. This is what football should bring us.”