Is Osimhen’s rudeness to Ikpeba payback for the Prince of Monaco’s similar behaviour in his prime years?

Victor Ikpeba’s constructive criticism of his namesake Osimhen has been taken the wrong way by the younger Victor and become blown far out of proportion.

What started as a pundit (a very qualified one at that) doing his job has now turned into the biggest Super Eagles-related story just a week after the team had failed to qualify for the World Cup; a good indication of where our priorities lie as Nigerians but that in itself is an article for another day.

This discussion has been going on for the whole week and has inevitably become a battle of generations as people have tended to side with whichever Victor is in their age range.

What most of the people involved don’t seem to realise is that the antagonist and protagonist (whoever that is to you) have more in common than differences.

They both share a first name, both are Super Eagles strikers who have made significant impacts on European football and most relevant to this copy; they both talk a bit too much.

Osimhen is in the limelight right now in the age of social media and the internet so his unhinged approach to public comments has been very well publicised but Ikpeba in his prime wasn’t that much different.

In fact, at the risk of seeming cruel and unfair, one might say Ikpeba’s lack of diplomacy in conveying his opinions was the main reason he failed to reach the true heights of his potential and not the unfortunate demise of his dear wife.

Victor Ikpeba is called the ‘Prince of Monaco’ for his exploits during his time at the club but more pertinently because that was the only place he made a real impact.

The Super Eagles’ legend somehow talked his way out of the status of a marquee signing to an unwanted player with a negative image within two years at Borussia Dortmund.

Ikpeba constantly made comments publicly that really should have stayed in his thoughts at best. Calling his move to Dortmund a “big mistake” while still representing the club is far more heinous than anything Osimhen has said and best believe the younger Victor has said plenty himself.

Ikpeba publicly derided his teammates and wasted no opportunity to share his opinion without caring how it made him look. Imagine if he had access to a medium that enabled him to reach millions of people in real-time and without any censorship, see where this is going?

Again, it is important to remember that a lot of Ikpeba’s outbursts were around the time he was mourning his deceased wife and could understandably be attributed to grief and depression.

But he was ultimately a highly opinionated person (and still is judging by his punditry) who paid no mind to diplomacy or the consequences of his comments which sounds a lot like Victor Osimhen right now.

Karma? De Javu? Whatever buzzword attributed to it, one thing is clear; what goes around actually does come around.