Black Stars captain Asamoah Gyan has congratulated countrymen Christian Atsu and Thomas Partey following their nominations for the 2017 African Player of The Year award.
The Ghanaian pair are two of 30 nominations whose winner will be announced in Accra early January.
Asamoah Gyan believes it is a manifestation of their hard work and consistency for both their respective clubs – Newcastle United and Atletico Madrid and the national team.
The record goalscorer for Ghana, speaking to Kumasi-based Angel FM is quoted as saying:
”I congratulate Christian Atsu and Thomas Partey because they have really worked hard.
”They have been able to fit themselves into the Black Stars team and their various (club) teams.
”Thomas Partey especially, has been in superb form this season, for both club and country.
“Partey has managed to score five goals in his last four games played for Ghana.
“He is a very good footballer and he has added goal scoring in his game, he scored in the Champions League this week and won the man of the match award during the AFCON – that shows he has consistency, just as Christian Atsu does for Newcastle.”
The Confederation of African Football (Caf) released the list of 30 nominated players for the African Player of the Year this week, as well as the list for the African Player of the Year-based in Africa.
The winners will be decided by votes from head coaches and technical directors of the national associations affiliated to CAF, members of the CAF media committee, members of the technical and development committee and a panel of experts.
The two winners will be announced at the Caf Awards Gala scheduled for 4 January 2018 in Accra (Ghana).
In total five Premier League stars have been nominated, with Eric Bailly (Man Utd, Sadio Mane (Liverpool), Victor Moses (Chelsea), and Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), joining Atsu on the list.
However, no place for last year’s winner Riyad Mahrez of Leicester.
