No Koulibaly for best African player

By Football Italia staff

Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly has been omitted from the shortlist for the 2018 African Player of the Year, but Juventus’ Medhi Benatia is in.

Koulibaly’s exclusion has been heavily criticised on social media, given he helped Napoli finish second in Serie A last season, represented Senegal at the World Cup and is considered one of the world’s best centre-backs on current form.

Milan midfielder Franck Kessie is another high-profile African playing in Italy to be left out, but Benatia makes the cut for winning another domestic double with Juventus and captaining Morocco in Russia, despite being a squad player for the Bianconeri.

Then-Inter striker Samuel Eto’o remains the last Serie A-based player to win the award in 2010 and record a podium finish.

African Player of the Year shortlist in full: Alex Iwobi (Arsenal/Nigeria), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool/Egypt), Andre Onana (Ajax/Cameroon), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal/Gabon), Anice Badri (ES Tunis/Tunisia), Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City), Denis Onyango (Uganda), Sadio Mane (Liverpool/Senegal), Medhi Benatia (Juventus/Morocco), Walid Soliman (Al-Ahly/Egypt)

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