Christian Atsu Should Have Won Africa Footballer of The Year

...And Not Aubemeyang


I think the headline of this article has got your attention and my reason is based on sophistic arguments by our own Blackstars Captain and other commentators who believe African Cup of Nations tournament should be the deciding factor in selecting the Africa Player of the year. Oh Pleeease!!!, stop that sophomoric argument now. Did we not select the best Player for the last African Cup tournament. I thought we did and if my memory serves me right, that Player was Christian Atsu, NOT Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Dede Ayew or Yaya Toure so why not hand the best Africa Player to Atsu and let's all of us go home.


Don't get me wrong and start accusing me of not being patriotic. To me patriotism means telling the truth and using emotions to reach decisions. The truth is that Aubemenyang is the best, no IF or BUT about it.

Our own Dede Ayew is a fantastic Player and I have every reason to believe he is going to win this Africa Player trophy before he hangs up his playing boots but the truth be told, No Africa Player at the moment is better than the Gabonese Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. I hope this award is based on statistics and nobody have better statistics than the Gabonese. Aubemeyang scored 24 goals in 23 matches for his club, Borussia Dortmund in the German Bundsliga. He scored 41 goals and 11 assists for club and country in 2015.

Though English Premier league where Dede and Toure ply their trade is rated the best league in the World, German league if not second is third in the world maybe behind the Spain league so it is not like Aubemeyang is scoring a goal per game in a backwater league.

Dede is a fantastic Player and very patriotic when it comes to playing for his country. He is a Player who even plays for Blackstars with a dislocated shoulder when others might have called for an ambulance but I think the team he plays for right now disadvantaged him. Though he is personally playing fantastic, Swancea City is fighting against relegation for a team that placed eigth or somewhere on EPL last season compared to Yaya Toure's Manchester City or Aubemeyang's Borussia Dortmund teams that are doing well in their respective leagues.

I know I am going to get a lot of flak for what I am about to write and that is why my moniker is Cardinal of truth, I am not an Apostle of Political Correctness, the truth is my guiding principle and will live and die by it.

Asamoah Gyan's statement that ""Aubameyang doesn't deserve the African Footballer of the Year award. He is a very very good striker and has did well for his club last year. But he did very little at the Africa Cup of Nations. think Andre Ayew did very well at the Africa Cup of Nations and he also excelled with his two clubs so it is very disastrous not to name such a person."

Oh!! Capito, if that is the yardstick, then where do you place Yaya Toure? He captained his team to win the last Africa Cup of Nations and doing great at Manchester City so why not him?

Capito went on to claim that he should have won the 2011 and 2014 Africa Player of the year and I say based on what? So Capito think he was better than E'Too and Toure when he lost to them? Quoting from Capito;

"CAF should tell us that the award is meant for players playing big clubs in Europe. National team & AFCON don't matter again."Even though CAF snubbed me in 2011 & 2014, I still believe that I've won two African Best."

Capito, you are an icon in Africa and should be careful about what you say. Your statement here is an insult to the two Players you lost to. I think you lost to Samuel E'Too when he was scoring goals at Barcelona and Yaya Toure when he was the force behind the Manchester City team. Capito, playing in Afcon is not the only measuring stick or we would not have to choose Africa Footballer of the year since after every Africa cup, we select the Player of the tournament.

As a matter of fact, I respect you for going for the money in United Arab Emirates from Sunderland and if I was in the same situation like you were, I would have done the same to guarantee my financial future but that is the price you pay for playing in a weak league like UAE pro league. There is no way you could have won at both times when you went against E'Too and Toure especially after missing two crucial penalties against Zambia and the one at the world cup.

"Ghana international Andre Ayew said after failing to win the African player of the year trophy that he did not understand the reasons behind this failure."

Andre, the reason is that you did not stand the chance against Aubemeyang and Toure no matter which criteria CAF used. If they had based it mostly on the Africa cup of nations, Yaya Toure who led Ivory Coast to win the 2015 edition would have edged and if they placed more emphasis on club, Aubemeyang is a colossus. Son, you are destined to win one but it is not this year maybe when you get to Liverpool.

Justice Sarpong

(CARDINAL of TRUTH)