Riyad Mahrez Confident of Winning CAF Player of the Year Award After Historic Season With Man City

• Riyad Mahrez has opened up on the CAF Player of the Year Awards
• The former winner is hoping to claim the award for the third time
• Mahrez will face competition from Yassine Bounou and Victor Osimhen

Al-Ahli forward Riyad Mahrez believes he is the favourite to win the 2023 African Player of the Year award despite strong competition from Nigeria's Victor Osimhen and Morocco's Yassine Bounou.

The 32-year-old won a historic treble with Manchester City before joining the Saudi Arabian giants in the summer transfer window.

Meanwhile, Osimhen led Napoli to their first Italian league title in 33 years while winning the Golden Boot Award at the end of the campaign.

Bounou helped Sevilla to another Europa League triumph, saving two penalties in the final against AS Roma.

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"I heard they are trying to put pressure on the name of the Moroccan goalkeeper, Yassine Bounou, in the competition of the best African player," he told Yallakora, as quoted by KickOff.

"It's true he won the European League, but that has nothing to the historic treble at Man City, so let's see," he added.

The Confederation of African Football is yet to prune the list to three for the ultimate ahead of next month's award ceremony.

Thomas Partey and Mohammed Kudus of Ghana, Morocco's Achraf Hakimi and Mohamed Salah of Egypt are all on the 30-man shortlist released earlier this month, as reported by CAF's official website.

The Algerian forward is, however, enjoying a good start to life in Saudi Arabia, having already scored five goals and provided seven assists in 13 matches for Al-Ahli.

Mahrez joined his Algeria teammates this week ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

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Riyad Mehrez reunites with N'Golo Kante

Earlier, Sports Brief reported that Riyad Mahrez reunited with Leicester teammate N'Golo Kante in Saudi Arabia during the league game between Al Ittihad and Al Ahli last month.

The duo were part of the historic Leicester City team that defied all odds to win the 2016 English Premier League.

Subsequently, Mahrez left to join Manchester City, while Kante joined London giants Chelsea.