Turkish journalist Naci Küçük has disclosed that the misleading reports claiming that Victor Osimhen faked injury during Nigeria's World Cup qualifier clash against Rwanda to return to Galatasaray negatively affected the player.

The 26-year-old sustained an ankle ligament injury when the Super Eagles hosted the Amavubi of Rwanda at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo on Friday, September 6.

The Nigerian striker subsequently missed the Super Eagles’ next encounter against South Africa in Bloemfontein as he returned to his base in Turkey to undergo treatment.

However, there were widespread reports attributed to Ghanaian legend Asamoah Gyan, suggesting that the former Napoli striker intentionally faked his injury to skip national assignment and prioritize club football, considering the fact that Galatasaray had paid a huge transfer fee for his signature.

Gyan, who is Ghana's all-time leading top scorer, dismissed the fabricated quotes attributed to him after the report gained traction on social media.

In a post on X, Gyan wrote, “This news is fake, my brother.”

Speaking on Futbol Arena YouTube channel, Naci Küçük revealed that the Super Eagles striker was demoralized by the purported comment from Gyan.

“The comments made in Africa, ‘He ran away from the national team for the Champions League!’, brought Osimhen’s morale down,” Küçük said.

“He became demoralised. In a sense, he said, ‘If I play, I will prove them right. There will be a perception that I ran away.’ He wanted to prevent that. That is the situation.”

Küçük added that Osimhen could have risked aggravating his injury if he had risked playing against Frankfurt in the Champions League.

“On the one hand, it was good. Because he was going to play against Frankfurt with no training. He was going to play with an injection. God forbid, it would have been a bigger risk. Despite the loss, it was good that Osimhen didn’t play,” Küçük said.

WDN