Osimhen, Troost-Ekong, Simy Begin Serie A Battles

The Italian Serie A will finally resume on Saturday (today) after 48 days since the end of the 2019/20 season, after most of the other leagues across Europe had resumed.

The new season gets underway with Fiorentina welcoming Torino to the Artemio Franchi Stadium, while the other game of the day would see Hellas Verona host Roma.

One of the major transfer moves in the Serie A this season was Victor Osimhen’s €81m move from Ligue 1 side to Napoli.

AC Milan were one of the busiest clubs in the transfer window, signing Simon Kjaer and Alexis Saelemaekers on a permanent deal in July. The San Siro club also signed Spanish forward Brahim Diaz and Italian midfielder Sandro Tonali on a season-long loan from Real Madrid and Brescia respectively, while Ante Rebic, Ciprian Tatarusanu joined from Frankfurt and Lyon respectively.

Inter Milan also strengthened their ranks by signing Darian Males, Aleksandar Kolarov and Achraf Hakimi from Swiss side Lucerne, Roma and Real Madrid respectively, while Alexis Sanchez also made his loan move from Manchester United permanent.

Juventus who already have Christiano Ronaldo in their ranks bought Felix Correia from Manchester City, while Arthur Melo arrived from Barcelona and Weston McKennie joined on loan from Schalke 04.

The just concluded season had three Nigerians in the league but Ola Aina and Victor Moses are not around again, joining Fulham on loan and returning to Chelsea respectively.

Below are the Nigerian players who will file out for Serie A clubs this season:

Victor Osimhen (Napoli)

After his big money move to Napoli, all eyes will be on Osimhen in his debut season in the Serie A. The 21-year-old already started on a good note, scoring hat tricks in his first two friendly games for Napoli as they thrashed L’Aquila 11-0 and Teramo 4-0. With him emerging the top scorer at Ligue 1 side, Lille, before moving to Napoli, he will be expected to replicate the form when Napoli start their campaign away at Parma on Sunday (tomorrow).

Simy Nwankwo

The 2019/20 season was by far Simy’s best in his career, scoring 20 league goals to help Crotone gain promotion from the Serie B to the Serie A. He also emerged the second division’s top scorer. While Simy will be interested in showing the stuff he is made of in the Serie A, he will also hope to help Crotone avoid relegation a season after coming up. They start their top-flight campaign away at Genoa on Sunday.

William Troost-Ekong

Troost-Ekong will sit out the first round of Serie A fixtures, as Udinese won’t be playing until match-day two when they file out against Verona September 27. Eagles assistant captain was a dominant figure in the heart of Udinese’s defense last season, featuring 30 times in the league for the Italian side and helping them finish 13th on the log at the end of the season. He will expect to help the team perform better this season and try to push for a ticket in Europe.