“I was shocked” – Ex-West Brom star surprised CAF snubs Osimhen for POTY award

The Napoli ace is essentially the most precious centre-forward on the continent, however he finds no place amongst Africa’s greatest 30

Former Tremendous Eagles defender Ifeanyi Udeze has expressed his disgust on the Confederation of African Soccer, CAF, for excluding Victor Osimhen from the 30-man shortlist vying for the celebrated Participant of the 12 months award.

Nantes winger Moses Simon is the one Nigerian included within the CAF shortlist following his exploits for membership and nation over the previous few months.

The controversial CAF awards

CAF, the continent’s soccer governing physique, on Thursday, June 30, launched an inventory of 30 gamers drawn from 13 nations set to compete for the African Participant of the 12 months award. The checklist has generated a little bit of controversy.

Distinguished on the checklist are earlier winners Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah, Bayern Munich’s Sadio Mane, and Manchester Metropolis’s Riyad Mahrez.

Apparently, Egypt’s Mohamed Elneny, Ivory Coast’s Sebastien Haller, and Morocco’s Yahya Jabrane additionally made the lower.

However there was no room for Nigeria’s Wilfred Ndidi, Samuel Chukwueze, and much more considerably, Osimhen.

Osimhen’s exploits in the course of the interval underneath evaluate

Crucially, Osimhen missed the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon, the place Simon’s brilliance powered the Tremendous Eagles to the knockout spherical.

However regardless of the damage that made him miss the Afcon and threatened his season, the 23-year-old was nearly unstoppable for Napoli within the Serie A and the Europa League.

The previous Lille lad netted 14 league targets, added one other 4 within the continental competitors, and received six extra penalties for Il Partenopei.

And Osimhen was deservedly handed the Serie A’s greatest younger participant award.

It, nonetheless, did little to persuade CAF’s panelists that the Nigerian worldwide merited a spot within the high 30.

What has been mentioned

The snub, nonetheless, drew the ire of former West Bromwich Albion defender Ifeanyi Udeze.

In a chat with the Punch, Udeze expressed his shock at Osimhen’s exclusion from an inventory displaying Africa’s best footballers.

The ex-PAOK full-back opines Osimhen’s absence from AFCON 2021 could have been the principle motive for the CAF snub.

“It was a shock to me that Osimhen’s title was not on that checklist,” Udeze mentioned.

“There was a 30-man shortlist and his title was not there; I used to be shocked. I don’t know the factors they’re utilizing for the nominations.

“I really feel Osimhen was not on that checklist as a result of he didn’t go for the African Cup of Nations and this affected his judgement, Moses was on that checklist as a result of he carried out for Nigeria within the AFCON, and he additionally helped his membership facet to win a cup no less than.

“I feel Osimhen ought to simply take that off his thoughts and work in the direction of the brand new season and also you by no means can inform; I’ll simply want him all the perfect.”

The awards ceremony the place the brand new Africa Participant of the 12 months is anticipated to be introduced will maintain on July 21, 2022, in Morocco.