Grow up and humble yourself – Ikpeba replies Osimhen over bicycle kick row

Former Super Eagles striker, Victor Ikpeba, has responded to Napoli striker, Victor Osimhen, telling him to grow up and humble himself.

The comments come after the young striker hit back at the former Nigerian international for criticizing him over his attempts at bicycle kicks during Nigeria’s second leg playoff against Ghana.

Speaking on Supersport, Ikpeba had criticised the 23-year-old saying, “Victor Osimhen is a good player but is not yet a finished article, forget he’s playing for Napoli. Some of those crosses he might have controlled instead of trying to do a bicycle kick.

“He’s still a young player but I hope that he can improve where he is in Napoli and help the national team in the future. He needs to understand when to play the ball and when to play bicycle kicks.

However, Osimhen, while replying a comment made by Super Falcons star Asisat Oshoala on a post on his Instagram page, took a swipe at Victor Ikpeba.

Oshoala had written, “Werey dem say make u no dey do bicycle kick.”

The former Lille striker then replied, “I go continue dey do am, no be that pundit go tell me wetin to do. Agbaya“

During his recent appearance on Channels TV, Ikpeba revisited the issue, saying he could father Osimhen and advised him to grow up and humble himself.

He also told the youngster to emulate the characters of Liverpool stars like Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah, and concentrate on his football career.

“I have seen the timeline of what happened, I can be the father to the young Victor, I have seen Victor before, very modest good young lad.

“A lot of things came to play, sometimes players can take decisions because of emotions and respond, so I’ve really moved on.

“Victor is one of those players that have a lot of character. He still needs to grow up, he’s not yet the finished article, he’s going to be one of our top players in the future, but he needs to humble himself and try to learn.

“It’s a learning process, he knows how many years it took him to be in Napoli so my only advice to him is to look at the way the likes of Salah, Mane carry themselves and concentrate on his footballing career,” he added.