Senegal international defender Kalidou Koulibaly has expressed his delight to see the number of African players in contention for the prestigious Ballon d’Or Award and has thrown his weight behind his compatriot Sadio Mane to win the highly coveted award, Bestchoicesports.com.ng understands

“We were not seeing this in the past years. This simply justifies the fact that African football has made great progress and has a place in world football’s elite. And I think this trend will continue. The players you just mentioned (referring to Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah), to who we can add Aubameyang (Pierre Emerick Aubameyang of Arsenal), strongly deserve this award, because they are amongst the best,” Koulibaly said during an interview with Buteur.

The 28-year-old Napoli and former Metz defender strongly hopes that the trophy will be attributed to his compatriot Sadio Mane

“I wish with all my heart that one of them [Mane and Salah] wins the award. However I know that there are certain parameters that will make it complicated for any of them to win it. My favorite? Without any surprise is Sadio Mane.

“We grew up together and were teammates at Metz, that is without talking about the number of years we have spent together with the national team.”

Mane scored 28 goals in 52 games last season, helping Liverpool to UEFA Champions League glory.