Nigerian legend Austine Jay Jay Okocha has revealed why Chelsea and Senegal, shot-stopper, Edouard Mendy was named the best goalkeeper at the just concluded Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Cameroon.
The Senegalese who was recently named the world best goalkeeper by the football governing body, FIFA, was also recognized by CAF at the conclusion of the biennial tournament on Sunday.
Many pundits and soccer analysts have since questioned CAF’s decision to give the award to Mendy instead of Egypt’s Gabaski.
However, Okocha who has won the tournament with Nigeria in 1994, believes the Senegalese goalie deserves the recognition.
Speaking on Supersports, the former PSG midfielder said, “Ever since he signed for Chelsea, it’s like his potential just came out and we knew very little of him before now.
“Of course, it shows that when you are competing in a good league you keep improving. He’s shown us in this competition that it’s no fluke that he’s the best goalkeeper in the world.
“I think that award must have been given to him because of the number of clean sheets he kept in this tournament. He kept five clean sheets in this tournament.
“He’s a championship winner for you if you don’t concede goals you give yourself the possibility of winning matches.
“And when it matters the most he sved that penalty to give his nation the opportunity to score the winner. For me, yes we’ve seen a lot of good goalkeepers in the tournament but deservingly, he’s the keeper of the tournament.”
