You may say it hasn't even gotten to half of year 2021, but I guess in ranking POTY, we will only consider players performances in 2020/21 season, which is about coming to a close this May. Yeah, we may have to consider afcon qualifiers and perhaps, the World Cup qualifiers which have been postponed to September.
Indeed, you may agree with me, this is the year most Nigerian players abroad did so well. The media focus may have been on strikers who are scoring goals, but there are none strikers like Moses Simon playing from the wings at Nantes, yet scoring as much goals; Wilfred Ndidi the reliable defensive midfielder at Leicester city and Williiams Troost Ekong who led the defense of Watford and help the club qualify back to the Premier League.
But from our ranking at GreenHunters Sports International, Kelechi Iheanacho and Paul Onuachu stood out this season with some superlative performances that kept the spotlight on them week in, week out.
Iheanacho is seen as one of Nigeria's golden boys since 2013 when he led the golden Eagles to their fourth World Cup win. So many fans would love to vote for Iheanacho as POTY by default. Some Analysts said Iheanacho's scintillating performances should be weighed far above that of Paul Onuachu because the Premier League is light away higher than the Belgian Jupiter league.
Despite Onuachu's 33 goals and 5 assists in 38 appearances for Genk in Belgian Jupiter League, nobody bothered to mention him among the list of Europe top scorers. Rather, it was Simeon Nwankwo's 20 goals and 3 assists in 33 appearances for Crotone in the Italian Serial A, was mentioned.
The English Premier League is ranked the best in the world, therefore, Iheanacho's 12 goals and 2 assist in 24 games should be ranked superior to Onuachu's goals. Of course, the way Iheanacho scored most of the vital goals that had led Leicester City to win the FA cup for the first time and still competing top four team in the Premier League standing.
No matter how you try to wave aside Onuachu's achievement this season, the figures and his performances are so loud you may be sounding like an enemy of progress.
It is a year every Nigerian fan should shout and drum his achievement from the roof top and get ready to vote for him both for Nigerian player of the year and the African player of the year.
The Jupiter league may not be among the top five European leagues, but Onuachu's achievement isn't in anyway a lean fit. Of course, he also help his club win the Belgian cup and scored three goal during the Super Eagles Afcon qualifiers.
Let us have your own opinion on this matter. Perhaps, you may even feel to nominate another player for the prestigious award. Comment below
