Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen has decided to no longer take penalties for Napoli following a series of controversial TikTok videos posted by the club’s social media channels. The videos had caused an uproar and led to the departure of one of Napoli’s social media executives.
The videos in question had mocked Osimhen, including one that portrayed him as begging for a penalty and another highlighting his miss from the spot in a Serie A match against Bologna at the end of September.
Since the incident, Napoli has been awarded penalties in three matches but Osimhen has not taken any of them. Instead, other players have assumed the penalty-taking responsibility. Piotr Zielinski took the penalty against Udinese, Real Madrid, and Matteo Politano took an injury-time penalty against Lecce.
Reports suggest that it was Osimhen himself who decided to remove himself from penalty duty due to feeling unnecessarily mocked by the club’s social media team. Previously, Osimhen had successfully scored penalties during the 2022/23 season and early stages of the 2023/24 campaign.
Gloria