Osimhen walks on the pitch more than most forwards — And that's exactly why he's deadly

You have seen it, that moment in the 67th minute when the ball is on the other side of the pitch and your number nine is barely moving, hands on hips, almost strolling while everyone else sprints. 

You check the stands, check social media, and someone has already posted a clip. The comments are not kind.

But before you rage, read this because a new data from the CIES Football Observatory might change the way you watch football forever.

CIES recently released a detailed movement analysis of forwards currently competing in the UEFA Champions League, tracking not just top speeds but how players distribute their energy across different speed thresholds throughout a match.

What they found is counterintuitive, uncomfortable, and absolutely fascinating.

Victor Osimhen ranked second in the entire Champions League for distance covered at speeds below 7 km/h; essentially walking or slow jogging. 

That accounts for 41.9% of his total movement during matches. Nearly half of everything Osimhen does on a football pitch, in terms of distance, happens at walking pace.

Go ahead. Be outraged. Get it out of your system. Now look at who is above the Nigerian superstar, also ranked one of the fastest in the Champions League.

Kylian Mbappe leads this category among centre forwards at 43.5%. Erling Haaland sits at 37.3%. Among wide forwards, Vinicius Jr leads at 38.0%.

Three of the most devastating attackers on the planet. All walking more than you think they should. All doing it on purpose.

Here is the thing fans rarely consider, a football match is 90 minutes long, and a forward's most important contribution often lasts less than three seconds. 

The sprint that creates the chance. The burst that loses the defender. The acceleration that turns a half-chance into a goal.

To produce that three-second explosion at maximum intensity, the body needs fuel. And fuel is finite.

The most intelligent forwards in the world understand this instinctively. They do not chase lost causes. They do not press when pressing will achieve nothing. 

They do not sprint to receive a ball in a position where they cannot hurt the opposition. Instead, they walk. They recover. They wait. And when the moment arrives, the right moment, the dangerous moment, they are ready to detonate. This is not laziness. This is predatory intelligence.

The CIES data makes this argument better than any tactical analyst could. Among centre forwards in the Champions League, the walking percentages read like a who's who of elite finishing. 

Mbappe at 43.5%. Osimhen at 41.9%. The Colombian Luis Suarez of Sporting Lisbon at 40.1%. Haaland at 37.3%. Ayoub El Kaabi fifth at 35.0%.

These are not players being criticised for their work rate. These are the players defenders fear most. The correlation is not a coincidence.

Among wide forwards, the same pattern emerges. Vinicius Jr leads at 38.0%, followed by Dodi Lukebakio at 37.1%. Anthony Gordon and Pedro Neto both sit at 34.6%. Bradley Barcola at 34.4%.

And then there is Marcus Rashford, currently one of the most criticised players in European football, frequently accused of going missing, of not trying, of walking through matches. 

Rashford sits 12th on the wide forward walking list at 32.4%. Gabriel Martinelli, Harvey Barnes, players rarely accused of laziness are all ahead of him.

Let that sink in. Rashford, the player fans point to when they want to illustrate a forward who walks too much, actually walks less than most of his peers. The criticism exists. The data does not support it.

None of this means every forward who walks deserves a pass. Context matters. A striker walking when his team needs him to press, ignoring defensive duties, or showing no urgency in crucial moments is a different conversation entirely.

But the next time you see Osimhen drifting at half-pace across the halfway line, conserving energy while Galatasaray build from the back, resist the instinct to reach for your phone and post a clip. He is not switched off. He is loading.

The sprint is coming. The defender will not be ready for it. And you will forget, completely, that he was ever walking at all.