CAF Awards: Emmanuel Amunike explains why he picked Salah ahead of Osimhen

The assistant coach of the Super Eagles of Nigeria, Emmanuel Amunike, has cleared the air on the video going around the media that he picked Mohamed Salah ahead of Victor Osimhen.

Emmanuel Amunike, who was responsible for bringing Victor Osimhen to the limelight during the U-17 World Cup, was left furious that the idea behind the video was misunderstood. According to him, he was asked to choose between Mohamed Salah and Archarf Hakimi, which is why he picked the Egyptian King.

He said,

"Good morning house, I want to use this opportunity to clear what some of you are saying in this platform. With all due respect to every one of you that I owe with high regard. First of all, I want you to understand the rumours that you guys are [spreading] concerning me not voting Osimhen. I was never elected to vote. On our way to the novelty game that we played in Marrakech here, a former player and captain of the Egyptian national team - who is preparing himself to become a TV producer in Egypt – with his group, he was debating on the Arabian team and he raised the question between Hakimi and Salah. There was time Osimhen was mentioned in that discussion. He came to me and asked ‘Hakimi or Salah’. I have to say Salah. And the reason why I said Salah was because I played in Egypt and I lived in Egypt and I know some of the guys there. So, there is nothing like voting against Osimhen. Osimhen is our player and our boy. We are happy about what he has achieved and we hope he would continue to dream and achieve more for the betterment of his career and the betterment of Nigeria. It has come a time in our culture in Nigeria with all due respect to you guys, we should stop spreading false news and stop creating false impression to the people. We are journalists and our responsibility is to inform the public what is right."

Amunike is not a stranger to the CAF awards, he was crowned the best player on the continent in 1994 following his role in helping the Super Eagles win the African Cup of Nations in 1994 which was hosted in Tunisia.