Former Super Eagles’ captain, Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha, has surprisingly ranked Fulham of England midfielder, Alex Iwobi, ahead of Liverpool’s Mohammed Salah in his list of Africa’s top five players of the moment.
Sports247 reports that, although Salah is in strong contention to be named African Footballer of the Year 2025, following his title-winning feat this past season in the English Premier League, ‘Jay Jay’ did not bat an eyelid in naming Iwobi ahead of the Egyptian enterprising winger.
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Incidentally, Salah also scooped a personal double, as he emerged as the EPL’s top scorer and most valuable player during a stunning season with The Reds of Anfield, thereby improving his chances of reclaiming the African gong as well.
However, rather than give top spot to the Liverpool ace in his personal ratings, Okocha opted to put Victor Osimhen ahead of all others on his roster and then caused a stir by naming Iwobi next, with Salah in third place and Arsenal’s Ghanaian midfielder, Thomas Partey, fourth.
Another surprise comes at this point, as ‘The Emperor’ names Iwobi’s Nigerian compatriot at Fulham, Calvin Bassey in fifth position, to infer that the Eagles’ legend (aka So Good They Named Him Twice) must have been swayed by what turned out to be a surprisingly astonishing campaign for The Cottagers.
While Fulham ended up in a somewhat commendable 11th place on the EPL’s final table, Iwobi equally shored up his best personal statistics since popping into the limelight during his days at Arsenal, where he notched three goals apiece in the 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons, respectively.
In terms of EPL matches played per season, Iwobi got his previous highest log of 38 games under his boots while lining out with Everton in the 2022/23 campaign, but he eclipsed it all this past season by notching nine goals in the top-flight league.
Furthermore, Iwobi, who has 10 goals in 85 international caps, began his ascent into better statistics at club level from the previous campaign, when he scored five goals in 30 games for Fulham, which he took much higher this time out, and Okocha is now rating his nephew as Africa’s second best based on his marks for the past season.
When asked to name his African top-5 of the moment, Okocha retorted jocularly: “Of course Osimhen, then I have to pick my own nephew, Alex Iwobi and the third one, Salah, then Partey and the last player is Bassey.”
Though Okocha’s verdict could be termed sentimental, considering that he is Iwobi’s uncle, Sports247 affirms that the Fulham number 17 indeed pulled off many stunning performances in 38 EPL matches as well as four games in the FA Cup and two in the Carabao Cup.
