1997 African Player of the Year, Victor Ikpeba, believes Victor Osimhen has a good chance of winning the African Player of the Year award again after he ended Nigeria’s 24-year wait for the gong last Monday.
Osimhen beat Achraf Hakimi and Mohammed Salah to the award.
The former AS Monaco striker also adds that Osimhen could well be the man who ensures that Nigeria stays in reckoning for the award in the years to come.
“Osimhen has a good chance of winning it again if Napoli wins the Serie A again, goes far in the Champions League and he continues to score as he has been scoring,”Ikpeba told ESPN.
“Or if he moves to another big club in a top five league and continues scoring but I will expect him to be up there again next year, and maybe win it again.
“Someone like Victor Boniface is also in a good position to win it if he continues to score goals like he is doing and Leverkusen do well in the league and in Europe.”
Ikpeba, whose goals for Monaco in Ligue 1 and the Champions league helped him win the award in 1997, added, “Goals matter. Because let us be honest, most of the winners of the awards, whether in Africa or anywhere else are goalscorers and right now, we have some of the best goalscorers in Africa.”
Beyond that, however, Ikpeba says the Nigerian Football Federation must play their part, “They have to ensure that the team does well, qualify for the World Cup, reach the final of the AFCON and even win it and also play good friendly matches that will expose our boys even more.
“When the national team is doing well and players are scoring goals, it is easier for them to get recognition too.”
But hope alone is not a sufficient condition to win accolades, without consistent individual and national team
