I will fix him — Ex-coach reveals doctor that saved Osimhen's career after failed medical

Royal Charleroi’s former coach Felice Mazzu provided some insights into the earlier days of Victor Osimhen's career and early struggle with injuries, which almost cut his career short. 

The 26-year-old joined Wolfsburg after the 2015 U-17 World Cup tournament in which he finished as top scorer. However, he self-admittedly struggled in Germany, managing only 335 minutes for the first team in the 2017/18 season. 

He was then offered to Belgian clubs, two of which rejected him: Club Brugge and Zulte Waregem, over failed medicals, before Charleroi took a chance on him. 

Mazzu has coached Charleroi across two stints, the first of which ran from 2013 to 2019, overlapping Osimhen's time in Belgium. In a recent interview, relayed by RTBF, he revealed that Osimhen was unfit when they signed him on loan from Wolfsburg. 

“Victor arrived at our club limping: he had been rejected by Bruges and Zulte Waregem; injured in the knee, he was unable to pass his medical tests,” Mazzù said. 

“But our doctor Frédéric Borlée told me: ‘Leave him with me for a few weeks and I’ll get him back in shape.’ In fact, a month later, he was fit. A little later, I brought him up to Beveren… and he scored with a backheel. Victor never left the first team again.”

Borlee’s effort proved the intervention Victor Osimhen's career needed. He went on to score 20 goals and provide four assists in 36 games, the start of a dominant goalscoring record in European football.

Royal Charleroi signed him permanently from Wolfsburg for a reported €3.5 million. Shortly after (precisely one month, according to Transfermarkt), they sold him to Lille for a club record transfer fee of €22.4 million, an incredible profit. 

He continued his scoring form at Lille and secured a move to Napoli, where he led Partenopei to their first league title in 33 years, before joining Galatasaray to deliver their 25th title. Evidently, Borlée’s intervention is a Sliding Doors moment in Osimhen's career, as his trajectory might have taken a less successful course had the Belgian club not taken him on loan.