Super Eagles and Galatasaray striker Victor Osimhen has declared that he would have still been rich even without football.
Osimhen, whose story is an inspiration to many asserted that his success was never dependent on his athletic talent alone.
Speaking in a candid livestream with social media personality Carter Efe on Saturday, March 21, 2026, the 27-year-old forward revealed that his hustle mentality would have made him rich in any “legit” profession he chose to pursue.
Currently in Nigeria recovering from a fractured forearm sustained during a UEFA Champions League clash against Liverpool, Osimhen took a moment to reflect on his humble beginnings in Lagos.
He emphasized that his rise from the “trenches” wasn’t just a stroke of luck but a result of a relentless work ethic.
According to the former African football icon, his hustle mentality was forged long before he stepped onto a European pitch.
He recalled selling bottled water in Lagos traffic and taking on menial jobs to support his family, noting that this drive would have eventually translated into wealth even without a ball at his feet.
“I get that belief in myself, even when I was in the trenches when it was tough. The way we had to hustle,” Osimhen said during a Twitch livestream with social media personality Carter Efe on Saturday.
“There’s no legit work that you’ll call me for that you won’t meet me there around five in the morning or four or three. Wake me up, I’ll go hustle,” he said.
“Even if not through football, I will have money like mad. That’s the way I believe. That’s the way I believe in myself,” the 27-year-old added.
On his relationship with Galatasaray, Osimhen said his loan move to the Istanbul club came at a particularly difficult period in his career, and that the warmth he encountered there stood in sharp contrast to experiences elsewhere.
“Gala is more than a club for me. We’re meant to cross paths, me and that club.
“When you enter that club, you realise and see the way that it treats players, the way they give their sweat for the badge. From other experiences, you see they deprive players of real love,” he added.
Osimhen who has been performing well in Galatasaray said the love extended beyond the dressing room to supporters around the world, and that his family had been equally swept up in it.
“Even my daughter, they’re more inclined to that club than me,” he said.
Osimhen added that the quality of treatment he received from the club, its staff, and the people around him was a rare privilege in professional football.
“Some players will go like 10 years of their career, 20 years, they will not get that kind of love,” he said.
