I never picked Salah over Osimhen — Emmanuel Amuneke clears the air on CAF Awards
Super Eagles assistant coach Emmanuel Amuneke has reportedly cleared the air after he was thought to have picked Egypt’s Mohammed Salah over his countryman Victor Osimhen for the CAF POTY Award.
Ahead of the big event on Monday night in Marrakech, Morocco, the CAF social media account shared a video where it asked legends of the African game to name their preferred winner for the African Player of the Year Award of the three nominees between Osimhen, Mohammed Salah, and Achraf Hakimi.
The legends were seemingly in transit to the gala when the content was recorded, and although the majority of them went for Osimhen, including former Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor, shockingly, Nigeria’s Amunike wasted no time in naming Salah when the camera panned on him.
Amuneke’s explanation
Amuneke’s publicly expressed choice of Salah over Osimhen, as depicted in the clip, was almost unbelievable, given the role the former Barcelona player played in the striker’s career and his current role with the national team.
)
His answer befuddled many, who took to social media to criticise the legend. In a report this morning, however, Amuneke explained that there was more to the viral clip than meets the eye.
The coach claimed to never have been presented with a question that pitted Osimhen against Hakimi and Salah; instead, he was only asked to pick between the North African duo, hence his Salah pick.
)
He also explained that he had no real voting power, as he was never invited by the federation to poll, and the clip was merely content developed by a Moroccan journalist.
“I was never elected to vote in the CAF Awards,” he said, per Godwin Enakhena.
“A Moroccan journalist came to me and asked, ‘Hakimi or Salah’. I said Salah because I played in Egypt I lived in Egypt and I know some of the guys there. Osimhen was never in the conversation.”
Comments