Minutes per goal: Napoli’s Osimhen goes past Mbappe, joins Haaland, Lewandowski on best list

The Nigeria international is enjoying arguably the finest season of his career after becoming unstoppable in the Italian top flight

Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen has become one of the world’s most dependable, most reliable, and most prolific goal scorers on the planet this season.

The Napoli frontman has smashed 12 goals in the Italian Serie A despite making just 14 appearances in the competition. He also boasts four assists to bring his goal contribution in the Italian top elite division to 16, which is an impressive 36 per cent of Napoli’s 44 goals this term.

Interestingly, Osimhen’s incredible goal output has come from only 1,163 minutes spent on the pitch, which means the 24-year-old has found the back of the net every 96.9 minutes.

And according to WhoScored, only Manchester City’s Erling Haaland (66.7) and Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski (89.1) have needed fewer minutes per goal in Europe’s top five leagues for players who have seen over 1,000 minutes of action.

⚽ Fewest minutes per goal in Europe’s Top 5 Leagues of players to play 1000+ minutes this season:

🥇 Erling Haaland (66.7)
🥈 Robert Lewandowski (89.1)
🥉 Victor Osimhen (96.9) pic.twitter.com/mGsIltarOE

— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) January 18, 2023

With Osimhen climbing to third on the prestigious list, he has gone past French Ligue 1’s top scorer Kylian Mbappe (with 13 goals), and German Bundesliga’s leading goal-getter Christopher Nkunku (12).

While Haaland has not found his range in any of his last three matches, Osimhen’s last league outing was a dominant display against high-flying Juventus.

Osimhen netted a brace and added an assist to help Napoli hand a 5-1 humiliation to the Old Lady.

His contribution has helped Napoli establish a nine-point lead at the top of the league table and has made him one of the most sought-after strikers on the continent.