Izuchukwu OkosiBy Izuchukwu Okosi
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Despite widespread speculation that Napoli are bent on stopping Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen from playing at the Africa Cup of Nations in January, Gianpaolo Tartaro, the maxillofacial surgeon who operated on the Nigerian on Tuesday has vehemently denied that he was under the duress of Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis to indicate a false prognosis of 90 days in order to stop the resourceful star from a second appearance at the Afcon.
Before the operation took place, medical experts including Tartaro, and Napoli boss Spalletti, had suggested that Osimhen whose only game in the tournament was a 3rd place playoff in 2019 would return to full training by mid-December, few weeks before he was due to report to a training camp with the Super Eagles ahead of the AFCON.
Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr has confirmed that Eagles camp will open on December 28th in Lagos ahead of the tournament in Cameroon.
Professor Tartaro has denied that a WhatsApp audio circulating in which the voice of the person is heard introducing himself as the specialist did not originate from him.
In the alleged fake audio, the person claiming to be Tartaro revealed that Napoli chief Laurentiis made a specific request for Osimhen to be ruled out for ninety days.
The voice in the WhatsApp audio said: “De Laurentiis has decided. Professor, let’s do 90 days like this as hell we send him to the African Cup.
“So now we will say that he is out for 90 days. Surely he will be able to play the first match in January with the mask, it will not be easy”.
Reacting to the voice audio, Tartaro was quoted as saying by FanPage: “I don’t know how to say it’s not me. In that audio some things are said extremely precise, others wrong. I’m a surgeon, I find it absurd. It’s pure madness.
“In the operating room there was a great coming and going of people and at the end of the surgery I talked about some technical things. I am very sorry about what is happening.
“I repeat, it’s not me. I’m not interested in saying this, I’d just lose out”.
Assuming there is no modification to the medical bulletin issued by Napoli, Osimhen is expected to be inactive until after the league game against Cagliari on February 20.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
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