A year after Victor Osimhen’s well-deserved coronation, the CAF African Player of the Year award should go to another Nigerian player: Ademola Lookman. The Super Eagles failed in the final of the African Cup of Nations against Côte d’Ivoire (2-1, ap), on February 11, 2024. If Osimhen had an ordeal with Napoli, Lookman shone brightly with another Italian club, Atalanta, in Serie A and on the European stage.
An incredible will-o’-the-wisp, the Englishman by birth finished the season with 17 goals and 10 assists in all competitions, including a historic hat-trick in the Europa League final against Leverkusen (3-0). Exceptional. Lookman, who was on his way out of the Dea (with interest from PSG in particular), has made a strong comeback with the Bergamo team. He made a nice assist for Mateo Retegui and scored a nice goal in Gian Piero Gasperini’s team’s victory against Fiorentina (3-2) on Sunday afternoon.
Guirassy in the race for the African Ballon d’Or
Ademola Lookman is therefore heading towards the “African Golden Ball” (nickname of the trophy since 1992 and the creation of the African Player of the Year), especially since one of his competitors, the Moroccan international prodigy Brahim Diaz, injured an adductor and will miss the next three months of competition. He will not be able to shine again at the start of the Champions League before the vote carried out by CAF and the CAF Awards at the end of the year.
As journalist Nabil Djellit points out on the Canal+ Afrique set, only Serhou Guirassy can compete with Ademola Lookman, after his 30 goals in 30 matches with Stuttgart last season. Among the Moroccans, it is not Brahim Diaz, luxury joker at Real Madrid, who deserves to be in the discussion, but Ayoub El Kaabi, the prolific scorer of Olympiakos, winner of the Europa Conference League (with a decisive goal by the Atlas Lion against Fiorentina).
