Emmanuel Adebayor Picks African Player of the Year, Snubs Ademola Lookman And Victor Boniface

Emmanuel Adebayor Picks African Player of the Year, Snubs Ademola Lookman And Victor Boniface

Edwin Kiplagat
updated at July 2, 2024 at 6:38 AM
In this article:
Sehrou Guirassy logo
S. Guirassy
VfB Stuttgart logoFFrance logo
Ademola Lookman logo
A. Lookman
Atalanta logoFNigeria logo
Victor Okoh Boniface logo
V. O. Boniface
Bayer Leverkusen logoFNigeria logo
Victor Osimhen logo
V. Osimhen
Napoli logoFNigeria logo
Nigeria logo
Nigeria
Nigeria
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  • The 2024 African Footballer of the Year will be difficult to call, with several players having a good chance to win the prize
  • Victor Boniface, Serhou Guirassy, and Ademola Lookman are leading contenders for the award to be handed out this year
  • Victo Osimhen won the award last year, but he had a difficult season with Napoli, and his numbers dipped significantly

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African footballers made their mark across the big leagues in Europe.

Victor Osimhen deservedly won last year's African Footballer of the Year award but will likely not be a contender this year.

Former Arsenal and Togo striker, Emmanuel Adebayor, has given his thoughts on who should win it this year.

Victor Boniface, Serhou Guirassy, Ademola Lookman, Victor Osimhen, Nigeria, Guinea
Serhou Guirassy and Victor Boniface were superb in the Bundesliga last season and are both in contention for the African Player of the Year. Photos by Tom Weller/picture alliance and Jörg Schüler.
Source: Getty Images

There were several standout performers in Europe last season.

Bayer Leverkusen and Nigeria striker, Victor Boniface, was one of the best African players last season. He scored 21 goals and provided 11 assists in 34 matches as Leverkusen won the Bundesliga for the first time.

His Super Eagles teammate, Lookman, bagged a hat-trick in the Europa League final to secure an elusive piece of silverware for Atalanta. He also did well at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.

Serhou Guirassy was incredible in the Bundesliga. The 28-year-old bagged 28 league goals to help Stuttgart finish second in the German top flight.

Osimhen had a tough season at Napoli. The 2023 Serie A top scorer managed 17 goals, a significant dip from last season's 31.

Boniface, Lookman, and Guirassy are considered front runners for the award but who will win it later this year?

Adebayor makes his CAF POTY pick

Speaking to Afrik-Foot, Adebayor, the 2008 CAF African Footballer of the Year, backed Guirassy to win the award ahead of Lookman and Boniface.

"Of course [he deserves to win]. He had an extraordinary season with Stuttgart, he is a striker who scored a lot. He will be one of the contenders, that's for sure, especially since Salah has not scored as much, Victor Osimhen did not have the same season as the year of the title. It's open this year. If it's Guirassy, it will be deserved."

Only Harry Kane (36) scored more Bundesliga goals last season than the Guinean striker.

Guirassy and Boniface in Bundesliga TOTS

Sports Brief also previously reported that Boniface and Guirassy had made the 2023/24 Bundesliga Team of the Season.

Xabi Alonso's side dominated the team with six players, followed by Bayern Munich and VfB Stuttgart, with two stars apiece.

Authors
Edwin Kiplagat photo
Edwin Kiplagat
Edwin Kiplagat has five years of experience in journalism working as a Sports Editor at Africa Insight Communications and ESPN. Edwin Kiplagat is a Bachelor's Degree holder in journalism from the Multimedia University of Kenya.