'I Was Robbed Of Two African Footballer Of The Year Awards'

Yaya Toure and Samuel Eto'o have both won four African Footballer of the Year awards, but one of their main competitors has now insisted both would have won one less had he not been robbed of the prize.

Ghana's Asamoah Gyan is Africa's top goalscorer in FIFA World Cup history and the all-time record scorer for his country.

Many remember his penalty miss in the 120th minute of the Black Stars' quarter-final loss to Uruguay at the 2010 World Cup, but he was the star of the African side that year.

His fine performances earned him a move to then-Premier League side Sunderland, but were was not enough for him to beat Eto'o to CAF's biggest individual award.

The 34-year-old has now insisted he should have been named African Footballer of the Year in both 2010 and 2014.

"Sometimes I don't know how they vote it, but I still think I should have won it in 2010 and 2014 because I deserved it," Gyan told TV3 Ghana.

"I did everything. I was scoring goals, I was on top of my shape, I was doing everything, you can check the stats. I don't know how they rate it (the African Footballer of the Year award).

"Why am I saying I should have won it in 2010 and 2014, without saying 2011, 2012, 2013?

"It's because I knew what I did and everybody saw it… I think 2010 and 2014 should have been my year."

3) Sadio Mane (Liverpool & Senegal) – €150 000 per week

~9) Cheikhou Kouyate (Crystal Palace & Senegal) – €65 000 per week

~9) Sofiane Boufal (Southampton & Morocco) – €65 000 per week

~9) Victor Wanyama (Tottenham Hotspur & Kenya) – €65 000 per week

8) Serge Aurier (Tottenham Hotspur & Ivory Coast) – €70 000

7) Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester City & Nigeria) – €75 000 per week

6) Eric Bailly (Manchester United & Ivory Coast) – €80 000 per week

5) Naby Keita (Liverpool & Guinea) – €120 000 per week

4) Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace & Ivory Coast) – €130 000 per week

2) Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang (Arsenal & Gabon) – €157 500 per week

1) Mohamed Salah (Liverpool & Egypt) – €200 000 per week

However, Gyan did find some consolation in being named BBC African Player of the Year in 2010.

"Sometimes I feel like there were a lot of players who were even better than me and they didn't get to there," he added.

"But at least I was able to win the BBC African Player of the Year, it was one of my (most) prestigious awards in my career. I was second in the CAF Awards.

"I (was) placed second behind one of the greatest African players, Samuel Eto'o, Drogba was third.

"Being on (the stage) with these great legends, great giants, I still feel proud of myself and still feel great."

Eto'o won his final African Footballer of the Year award in 2010 after lifting it three times between 2002 and 2004, while Toure claimed his fourth CAF trophy in 2014.

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