Former Super Eagles coach, Finidi George, has responded to a viral video by Victor Osimhen.
Beyond Boders recalls that Osimhen denied claims that he faked an injury to avoid playing in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in video.
Osimhen went live on Instagram on Saturday to clarify that the accusations were false. He mentioned rumours that Finidi George had said he would not beg Osimhen to play for the Super Eagles.
The situation led Nigerian sports journalist, Colin Udoh, to seek the truth from both the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) and Finidi George.
Udoh contacted senior NFF officials, who confirmed that Finidi never accused Osimhen of pretending to be injured.
Udoh also spoke directly with Finidi, who denied making such statements and expressed that Osimhen should have handled the matter differently.
Udoh shared on Instagram, “I called a couple of people who were at that meeting between Finidi, the NFF, and the minister to find out if what is alleged to have been said was actually said, and so these people are usually very, very senior and reliable people and I was told categorically that Finidi did not say the things he’s alleged to have said.
“He did not say he wasn’t going to beg Osimhen. He did not say that Osimhem was not committed. in fact, he did confirm when he was asked about Osimhen’s absence that he called him from Germany, and that’s why he was excused,” Udoh continued.
“It was when the issue of player’s commitment was raised; that’s why he said he would not beg anybody to play for the Super Eagles, but he did not mention any player by name, specifically.
“And so, I also called Finidi himself to ask him if that was the case and he also confirmed to me that he never said any of those things.
“In fact, he corroborated what the other gentleman had told me and that he would have no reason to call out any player, whether in public or in private, and that he would address issues with the players themselves if there were any issues.
“And then, as soon as the video was brought to his attention, he said he reached out to Osimhen and let him know that one, he never said those things, and two, even if he had, Osimhen should have reached out to him first to find out if he did say, what he was alleged to have said, rather than going, public with such disrespect.”
