The newly appointed coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Bruno Labbadia is not new to working with the top striker of the Nigerian team Victor Osimhen, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
58 year old Labbadia was in the early hours of today announced as the new coach of the senior national team of Nigeria replacing Finidi George, whom left his role two months ago after a disappointing performance in the world cup qualifiers.
Labbadia who is expected to take charge of the games against Benin Republic and Rwanda respectively in the AFCON qualifiers next month was the head coach of Osimhen in 2018, when the Nigerian was still finding his way in Europe at German Bundesliga side Wolfsburg.
It appears the coach will bring out a playing style that will help harness the talents available to the team in attack, which has been problematic to past coaches as they struggle to pick the best pair for the team in attack to play alongside Osimhen.
More often than not the reigning Africa Footballer of the year has been deployed as a lone striker, but judging by Labbadia’s statement four years ago he could be set for another role in his team under a new formation.
In 2020 while speaking on his time with the now established Osimhen shortly before his resumption at Italian Serie A side Napoli following his transfer from Lille, Labbadia explained his time with Osimhen and although he sees him as a classic number 9, in the three games he played under him he was a winger in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
“When he has the ball on his feet, he is formidable and in one on one he is very strong,” Labbadia was quoted saying in Il Mattino as reported by TuttoMercato, “and then he is very good in running without the ball to be found free by his companions.
“He knows how to descend in every reality, he always gives 200 percent,” the German coach added. “He makes a great central striker because he is the classic number 9.
“Not only that, he played outside for me in 4-2-3-1. He was young and he’s fast, but it is in front of goal that he can make the difference because he has a great flair for the goal.”
