Galatasaray head coach Okan Buruk believes Victor Osimhen’s importance to the team can be compared to Harry Kane’s influence at Bayern Munich and Kylian Mbappe’s role at Real Madrid, following the Nigerian star’s return to training after injury.
The Nigerian forward returned to first-team training on Thursday and is now in contention to return to action against Genclerbiligi on Saturday, although he was spotted with bandage wrapped around his wrist.
Osimhen has been on the sidelines since sustaining an arm injury during Galatasaray’s 4-0 defeat to Liverpool in the Champions League Round of 16, which forced him off at halftime in the clash, before he later underwent surgery.
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The 27-year-old missed his side’s last three league matches, during which they won only once and saw their lead at the top of the standings cut to two points with just a few games left this season.
The Turkish champions also lost 2-0 the last time Osimhen was absent with injury, when he was left out as a precaution during a game against Konyaspor in February.
Osimhen’s importance to the Lions has continued to grow since his arrival in 2024 on an initial loan deal and has seen him score 56 times from 70 appearances across all competitions, including 19 this season.
What Buruk said about Osimhen’s return
Reacting to the return of their talisman, Galatasaray head coach Okan Buruk made a bold comparison of the Nigerian forward to the likes of Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane and Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe.
“As I said, there are bad luck. Osimhen’s injury is his third injury this season. This is the third episode, especially where Osimhen has not been since the beginning of the season. But here, we can say that the team performed very well in many departments”, Buruk said.
“Some players are very important and very valuable for the teams. We watched the Bayern Munich – Real Madrid match yesterday. What Mbappé is for Real Madrid, Harry for Bayern Munich, and Osimhen for Galatasaray. It is very important in this sense. If you want to play here, you already need to play with very strong players and very strong profiles.
Osimhen had a long training session with the majority of the team yesterday. He had a good physical workout and finished comfortably”, he continued.
“Of course, having every player join the team has a very positive impact. Osimhen is one of the driving forces here. I have great confidence in all my players. It’s very important that all my players are part of the team. Their training performance is crucial.
Osimhen’s participation in training also positively increases the team’s energy. We’ll see about the weekend today and tomorrow. We’ll decide whether or not to take him to Ankara”, Buruk concluded.
Osimhen’s return will come as a huge boost for Galatasaray, particularly after they dropped points in recent matches in the title race and with a potential decider against rivals Fenerbahce to come on April 26.
