Galatasaray yet to decide on Victor Osimhen return against Kas?mpasa

Galatasaray will not decide whether Victor Osimhen can face Kas?mpasa until the striker has completed further medical assessments, club doctor Yener Ince says.

The Nigeria international has missed Galatasaray’s past three matches in all competitions since sustaining an injury during the 3-2 win over Istanbul Basaksehir last month.

The problem also forced Osimhen to withdraw from Nigeria’s 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Madagascar and Guinea-Bissau.

Galatasaray host Kas?mpasa at RAMS Park on Friday, and Osimhen is hoping to return after making progress in his recovery. However, Ince has warned that the club will not rush the striker back into action.

“His treatment is also going very well. But we need to say this about him: there was a very large hematoma in a muscle group that the doctors call Grade 2. He had serious bleeding. His injury is not something to be taken lightly,” Ince said on the Galatasaray YouTube channel.

“With the help of our radiologist colleagues at our sponsor hospital, we drained the hematoma using a different method. After the hematoma was drained, he felt much better. His treatment is ongoing.”

Osimhen took part in some of Galatasaray’s training on Thursday, but Ince said the forward’s condition would continue to be monitored in stages.

“He participated in some of the team’s training sessions yesterday. However, we will assess him day by day, phase by phase. We don’t want to take any risks,” he added.

Ince said the same approach would apply to Wilfried Singo, who is also being assessed by the club.

“I’ll say the same thing for both Wilfried Singo and Osimhen: We don’t want to take any risks. We will make our decision based on the results of the tests we conduct in those phase studies,” he said.

“I understand there’s a very important match schedule, but rather than losing the player for an even longer period, we need to move forward based on the test results we’ve obtained here. We will try to protect him as much as possible.”

Doctor explains Osimhen’s training absence

Ince also sought to clarify why Osimhen did not immediately return to full team training after coming back to Turkiye from a short holiday in Nigeria.

The Galatasaray doctor said the striker had an upper respiratory infection and was placed on an individual programme for two days.

“I have one more thing to say about Victor. I’m saying this, again, to respond to speculation,” Ince said.

“Something like, ‘The player arrived, didn’t show up for training, this happened, that happened.’

“When the player arrived here, he had an upper respiratory infection. That’s why he trained using a different method for two days. We didn’t include him in team training; we trained him separately.”