What would his dad think of the goal he had just scored? And would be celebrating with the same unbridled excitement as his son?
“Only me and my dad really know what I can do,” said Osula, who had only been on the pitch for five minutes when he went charging down the right touchline before cutting inside to score on Wednesday.
“My dad's my everything, I love my dad to the moon and back. He's the reason for everything I am today. I'm basically his legacy.
“He invested his whole life in me and I obviously want to pay him back and make him proud and show him what I can do on the pitch, so moments like that [against Man Utd], I'm sure he's happy at home right now.”
Osula was born in Copenhagen to a Danish mother and Nigerian-French father, but while he spent his formative years in Denmark, his family took the decision to relocate to England when their son began to show signs of footballing promise.
Shortly after he scored his midweek winner against Manchester United, a picture began to circulate on social media showing an 11-year-old Osula on the pitch at Old Trafford, receiving a trophy from Bryan Robson and Gary Pallister after winning the MU Soccer Schools World Skills final.
Even at that age, Osula was making heads turn, but it was Sheffield United that eventually gave him his first footballing home as he joined the South Yorkshire club’s youth academy in 2018.
A loan spell at Derby County paved the way for him to break into the Blades’ first team in the second half of the season that saw them crash out of the Premier League. A few months after that, and he was making a £15m move to Newcastle.
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Since then, things have hardly been plain sailing. Osula has made 30 Premier League appearances for the Magpies, but 29 of those have been as a substitute. He has scored six senior goals, but has never really come close to holding down a regular starting spot.
Injuries have not helped – a serious ankle issue kept him on the sidelines for almost three months earlier this season – but prior to Wednesday night, there was a sense of a career that was waiting to take off.
“I've had injuries, I've had a lot of ups and downs with different things, but that's football,” said Osula. “Thank God I'm here now, fully fit with no problems, and I can keep going and keep running for the season.
“I’ve had opportunities now and I'm playing more, so I'm really happy with that. I want to keep playing and get more opportunities.”
Had things turned out differently in the summer, those opportunities might have been coming in the Bundesliga with Eintracht Frankfurt.
Newcastle agreed a deal worth around £30m with Frankfurt in the summer, but the proposed move collapsed on deadline-day when the German club reportedly tried to change the terms of the deal to an initial loan with a view to a future permanent switch.
The Magpies pulled the plug on the switch, with Osula returning to the club’s Darsley Park training ground to join an attacking unit that, by then, also featured summer signings Yoane Wissa and Nick Woltemade.
“I’m obviously at Newcastle and I always have been signed here,” said Osula, when asked about the events of the summer. “So, that's been the focus until that's not the case. You know what I mean? But at this moment that's the case and my focus is fully on Newcastle and doing my best here and having an impact.”
He certainly had an impact on Wednesday, and after making such a positive impression from the bench, it will be interesting to see whether Osula is handed a starting spot for tomorrow’s FA Cup fifth-round tie with Manchester City.
At his press conference this morning, Eddie Howe insisted that he ‘does not have an attacking order’, but it still felt significant that it was Osula rather than Wissa that replaced Anthony Gordon with the scores level in the 85th minute on Wednesday night.
“There are some big games coming up,” said Osula. “Everyone wants to play in these types of games. As a kid, you dream of playing big games like this, Champions League, Premier League, so of course I want to be part of that and show what I can do on the pitch.
“I will always have faith in myself. I know what I can do on the pitch. Hopefully, that [his winning goal] gives the fans some belief and faith that I can do such things.”