Former Africa footballer of the year Emmanuel Adebayor insists that Borussia Dortmund striker Serhou Guirassy will be a worthy winner of the Africa Player of the year award ahead of Ademola Lookman of Nigeria, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Lookman is widely seen as as the overwhelming favourite to replace his international teammate Victor Osimhen as the best player in Africa, after an extraordinary season with Atalanta where he fired them to Europa League glory with a hattrick in the 3-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen in the final.
He was also the star of the Nigerian side that went all the way to the final of the AFCON, before losing 1-2 to the host Cote d’Ivoire. He scored three goals to further cement his case.
Despite that Adebayor believes that Guirassy who had an outstanding last season with German side Stuttgart, and has also transferred his form to his new team Borussia Dortmund will be a fair choice as the next winner of the Africa footballer of the year, despite not at his best at the AFCON where he scored just once for Guinea.
” I mean it that Guirassy won’t be an unpopular choice if he wins the award. Like I said earlier he is a striker who scores lot of goals and that was what handed Victor Osimhen the award last year. Ademola Lookman is a solid choice but you can’t say Guirassy doesn’t deserve it if given”, the former Togolese forward was quoted as saying.
It is the second time that Adebayor who has Nigerian roots has is openly making a case for the Guinean. The first time was in July when he granted an interview to Afrik-Foot.
“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, and 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”, he said on the 3rd of July.