No paid media — Onuachu aims dig at Osimhen as he leads the golden boot race

Trabzonspor striker Paul Onuachu has aimed a thinly veiled dig at Super Eagles teammate Victor Osimhen after stretching his lead on the Turkish Super Lig goalscoring chart.

Onuachu, 31, scored his 18th goal of the season to help Trabzonspor down Fatih Karagumruk. The goal extended his scoring streak to seven matches, an incredible showing of form which has seen him find the back of the net in every game since returning from the AFCON.

However, despite being the most in-form Nigerian forward in European top-flight football this season, he has not enjoyed as much media attention as his superstar compatriot, Osimhen, who also plays in the Super Lig.

The lanky striker took to social media to share pictures from his performance over the weekend. Interestingly, he also posted a meme which read, "No paid media. No bought hype. Just hard work, quality and goals."

The post comes after certain individuals on social media observed the paucity in the level of media and Super Eagles fan attention Onuachu enjoys, especially when compared to the fanfare around Galatasaray's Osimhen.

Those observations led to suggestions and claims that not only was Osimhen a media darling, but the Cim-Bom ace also greases the palms of social media influencers. His close relationship with notable football influencers was used to support the claims.

Onuachu appears to share those sentiments, or at least has been influenced by them, as his recent post can rightly be interpreted as contributing to the disparaging conversations about the attention Osimhen enjoys. Hence, a dig.

Despite claims by some of his detractors online, Osimhen does not trail Onuachu by much this season. While he has scored eight fewer league goals, his seven strikes in the Champions League leave him only two behind Onuachu for goals in all competitions. Osimhen has also directly contributed to more goals, 23, to the ex-Southampton man's 21.