Jay Jay Okocha has hailed Chelsea goalie Edouard Mendy as the best in the world after Senegal’s win at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Senegal beat Egypt on penalties in Sunday’s AFCON final to win the tournament for the first time in the nation’s history.
Mendy, meanwhile, was crowned Africa Cup of Nations’ best goalkeeper as he kept three clean sheets during the tournament and also saved a penalty in the shootout against Egypt in the final.
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The 29-year-old has impressed since his £22m move to Chelsea in 2020 and Okocha, who won the Africa Cup of Nations with Nigeria in 1994, believes he is now the best keeper in the world.
‘Since he signed for Chelsea his potential came out and we knew little about him before then,’ Okocha told SuperSport. ‘It shows when you are in a good league, when you are competing every week you keep improving.
‘He showed in this competition that it’s not a fluke that he’s the best goalkeeper in the world and I think that award must have gone to him because of the amount of clean sheets that he kept.
‘If you don’t concede goals you give yourself the possibility of winning matches and when it matters the most he saved that penalty to give his nation to opportunity to score the winner.
‘For me we’ve seen a lot of good keepers in this tournament but deservedly he’s keeper of the tournament.’
Senegal and Napoli central defender Kalidou Koulibaly also heaped similar praise on Mendy after the final.
‘It was a tough game and a tough tournament,’ he said. ‘We made it with our team and our power. Our goalkeeper is the best in the world and we win the title.
‘We feel happy. We knew it would be hard to win the Africa Cup of Nations but today we made it.
‘Our team deserved to win this title. We had been looking for this for a long time and now we have it. This team is magnificent.’
