AS the celebration for the 2024 CAF Africa Player award gears up, Cameroon international Flavien Enzo Boyomo is confident that Nigeria international and Atalanta forward Ademola Lookman is the favourite to win the men’s best player award.
Lookman, who made history as the first player to score a hat-trick in a European club competition final during his club’s triumph over Bayer Leverkusen last season, has been getting massive backing from teammates, stakeholders and fans since CAF announced the final shortlist for the award.
Boyomo is the latest to throw his weight behind the Nigerian to claim the honour when the winner will be announced at the CAF Awards 2024 on December 16.
Lookman faces competition from Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi, Algeria’s Amine Gouiri, Ivory Coast’s Simon Adingra and South Africa’s Ronwen Williams.
Despite the stiff competition from other nominees, the Osasuna centre-back remains confident that the Atalanta man will win the award.
“I believe Lookman will win the African Ballon d’Or,” Boyomo was quoted saying by Actu Cameroon.
“He won the Europa League and he is the one who has the best chance of winning the trophy this year.”
Lookman’s nomination comes after a remarkable season that saw him emerge as Europe’s most productive attacking player in the latter stages of the 2023/24 campaign, registering 14 goal contributions (eight goals and six assists) from April onwards, more than any other player across Europe’s top five leagues.
The former Everton striker’s stellar performances reached their pinnacle in the UEFA Europa League final against Bayer Leverkusen, where he netted a historic hat-trick to crown a season that saw him amass an impressive 17 goals and 10 assists across all competitions.
The former Everton man has continued with his impressive form this campaign, with the Nigeria international already notching nine goals and five assists in just 16 appearances for La Dea.
Aside from his historic and remarkable Europa League exploits with Atalanta, Lookman emerged as the overwhelming favourite for the 2024 CAF Player of the Year award following his 14th-placed finish at the Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris in October where he was the only African player nominated for the award.
