Mohamed Salah left out of African Men’s Player of the Year nominations

For the first time in ten years, Mohamed Salah, the Egyptian winger for Liverpool, is not among the 2024 Men's African Player of the Year nominees. The Liverpool player was not included in the Confederation of African Football's (CAF) ten-man list for the coveted accolade, which was announced on Thursday.

The honor was claimed by Salah in 2017 and 2018. After Senegalese forward Sadio Mane's wins in 2019 and 2020, he finished as the runner-up. He came in third place in 2023, behind Moroccan defender Achraf Hakimi and Nigerian forward Victor Osimhen. Before being left off of the final ten-man roster, the 32-year-old made his first appearance among the CAF list in 2013 being a member of an initial 30-player roster.
 
Although he wasn't on the 2014 list of candidates, he has been a regular since 2015. Salah netted 25 goals in 44 games for Liverpool in all competitions the previous season. He has scored seven goals over 12 games this season. Chelsea star Nicolas Jackson also posted on Instagram in relation to Salah being left out as he said, “What happened” along with a picture of a post which stated Salah’s exclusion.

According to the CAF, the prize winners will be made public in Marrakech, Morocco, on December 16. However, after a stellar 2023–24 season with Bayer Leverkusen, Victor Boniface appears to have a chance to win the prize. 

“A big game is coming up again” : Arne Slot

Liverpool defeated RB Leipzig in a tough match on Wednesday to secure yet another Champions League victory.  Mohamed Salah's miserable evening was made worse by an unexpected switch in the second half.

The former Feyenoord manager said, “It’s a tough fixture list that we have so, I said before the game about Curtis Jones that he hasn’t played 90 minutes yet, he only played two times 75 or 85 minutes, he is not used to playing two games so fast in a row. We have some injuries now so I have to take good care of the players that have played a lot and Mo is one of them and on Sunday, a big game is coming up again.”