Favorites For 2023 CAF Best Award Widen For Osimhen To Onana & Mahrez

Favorites For 2023 CAF Best Award Widen For Osimhen To Onana & Mahrez

By Gbenga Gboyega

Nigeria's Victor Osimhen's status as Africa's best prospect for 2023 is now threatened by the advent of Internazionale's Andre Onana and Manchester City's Riyad Mahrez both featuring starring in this year's UCL final.

Napoli's talisman and highest goal scorer in the Italian Serie A for the current campaign - Victor Osimhen, had been touted by fans and pundits alike as Africa's best player abroad for the longest period this season based on his exploits for his club.

Osimhen, 24 years old, clinched the Scudetto with Napoli after maintaining a 16-point gap over 2nd-placed Lazio with five games to spare, with the Lagos-born striker also poised to grab Italy's top scorer gong after bagging 23 league goals thus far plus 5 assists.

Although the Super Eagles of Nigeria failed to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, his exploits for Napoli eclipse all the odds, barring Andre Onana of Internazionale and Riyad Mahrez of Manchester City.

For Onana, the Cameroonian international goalie has helped Inter to third in the Serie A so far, conceding 19 goals and keeping 8 clean sheets in 22 league games. His UCL stride also records 10 goals conceded in 12 games while keeping 8 clean sheets.

The reverse is the case for the Indomitable Lions as Onana's Qatari experience last year ended after just one World Cup game - the 1-0 loss against Switzerland, with the 27-year-old opting to leave the squad and the tournament by extension due to a falling out with head coach Rigobert Song.

Riyad Mahrez has also impressed for his club, with the 32-year-old Algerian assisting 10 league goals for the Citizens this season while scoring five in 27 appearances, adding his five-goal contributions in nine UCL games.

However, considering Algeria also did not feature in Qatar, after losing the World Cup ticket to Cameroon during the qualifiers, Mahrez only has two goals and an assist in International friendlies, plus 1 goal 1 assist in the AFCON qualifiers as his record for his country within the period in view.

Beforehand, Victor Osimhen looked to have been celebrated more for his club exploits by foreign supporters, with little or nothing to show by his country's football federation via social media, leaving more questions than answers on how the NFF rates their stars.

Either Andre Onana or Riyad Mahrez will clinch the UEFA Champions League title, which is Europe's major continental trophy, putting both players in contention alongside Victor Osimhen in the running for Africa's best player award later this year.