The British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC has released the shortlist for the BBC African Footballer Of The Year 2017 Nominees. The BBC African footballer of the year award is an annual top football honor given by the BBC to a dersving African Football player irrespective of their league and status.For the BBC African Footballer Of The Year 2017,  a five-man shortlist has been revealed and voting for the BBC African Footballer of the Year 2017 is now open. Three of the five nominees for the BBC African players of the year 2017 award play in English Premier League with two from the German Bundesliga.

The five players shortlisted for the 2017 BBC African footballer of the year award are Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Naby Keita, Sadio Mane, Victor Moses and Mohamed Salah. These five players were in top form in their respective clubs last season.

From the list above it can be observed that the winner of the BBC African footballer of the year 2016 Riyad Mahrez did not make the cut as his Leicester City had a woeful defence of their league title last season. His country was also unable to make it to next years FIFA mundial in Russia.

A Brief Look at The BBC African Footballer Of The Year 2017 Nominees

Sadio Mane

Sadio Mane plays for Senegal and Liverpool football club. From his days at Southampton FC, mane has continued to show what a quality footballer he is. Since joining Jugen Klop‘s Liverpool the striker has been in an electrifying form forming one of the most deadliest attack in the Premier League.

He has gone on to become one of the best players in Liverpool FC right now with his pace, skills and an eye for goal. Mane surely deserves his place among the BBC African Footballer Of The Year 2017 Nominees.

Naby Keita

Naby Keita plays his football for Guinea and RB Leipzig of Germany. His fine form has been one of the main reasons why RB Leipzig has maintained their recent onslaught in the Bundesliga. RB leipzig almost toppled Bayern Munich to the Bundesliga title last season and Keita’ form contributed in no small measure to that.

Keita’s fine form saw him linked to some of Europe’s top clubs last summer. Liverpool ended up winning the race as he signed a pre-contract agreement to join the reds next summer in a big money move. Does Keita have what it takes to win the BBC African Footballer Of The Year 2017, we will to see.

Victor Moses

Victor Moses plays for Chelsea Football club and Nigeria. Since the arrival of Antonio Conte at Chelsea, Victor Moses has been of the biggest beneficiaries. The Nigerian who spent the previous three seasons on mixed fortune loans at Stoke, Liverpool and West Ham respectively has experienced a career revival with Antonio Conte on board.

Conte took over from Mourinho after a disastrous title defence. He had an indifferent start to his Chelsea career but back to back defeats to Liverpool and Arsenal saw a change in formation to 3-4-3 which saw Moses playing as the right wing back. Moses has not looked back since then as he has gone on to become one of the most important players on the Chelsea squad under the Italian gaffer.

Chelsea went on to win the English Premier league title last season with Moses playing a vital role. He also played so well as Nigeria became the first African country to qualify for 2017 FIFA World Cup in Russia. Moses is therefore one of the to contenders among BBC African Footballer Of The Year 2017 Nominees.

Mohammed Salah

Mohammed Salah is an Egyptian and a Liverpool FC player. He is the second Liverpool player on the five man list of BBC African Footballer Of The Year 2017 Nominees. Salah who only joined Liverpool this summer was one of the best players in Italian Seria A last season playing for capital club Roma FC seeing them finish second below Juventus.

The high flying little Egyptian who first had a failed stint at Chelsea FC few seasons ago was able to recapture his form at Roma. This earned his a big money move to Liverpool. Since arriving at Liverpool, he has been one of the best players in the PREMIER LEAGUE this season.

Salah’s top form also saw his country Egypt qualify for next years FIFA WORLD CUP in Russia. He deserves his place among the BBC African Footballer Of The Year 2017 Nominees.

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Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is the reigning CAF African footballer of the year. He plays for Gabon and Borrussia Dortmund of Germany. Aubameyang’s fine form in the Bundesliga has seen him consistently make this list for the last five years winning it on two of those occasions.

He has been one of the best strikers in the German league for the past few years now and was the golden boot winner last season. After a lot of rumours regarding his future at Dortmund he ended up staying back for this current season at least.

Aubameyang remains the favorite to Win the BBC African footballer of the Year 2017 award among the other BBC African Footballer Of The Year 2017 Nominees.

HOW TO VOTE FOR BBC African Footballer Of The Year 2017

Voting has started for the 2017 BBC African Footballer of the year. The Voting is done online via the BBC website. This vote closes at 1800 GMT on the 27th November. To vote for your choice candidate for the award;

• Go the voting website using this url http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/41890720
• Tap on the player you want vote for BBC African Footballer of the year 2017 and click on vote.

What is your front runner among the five nominees for the BBC African Footballer of the year 2017? for me it is between Moses and Aubameyang.