His time will come – Agyemang-Badu backs Mohammed Kudus for future CAF Player of the Year

Former Ghana midfielder Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu has expressed confidence that Mohammed Kudus will win the African Player of the Year award in the near future.Despite Kudus’s impressive debut season in the Premier League, where he scored 14 goals and provided six assists, he was notably absent from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) ten-man shortlist for the award.Agyemang-Badu acknowledged that while he hoped to see Kudus on the shortlist, there were many outstanding players who performed exceptionally well in Africa over the past year.”I was hoping he would make the shortlist, but there were also many outstanding players who performed exceptionally well in Africa last year,” he told Flashscore.The former Black Stars midfielder emphasised that Kudus, still at a young age, has plenty of opportunities ahead of him. “Kudus is still young and has plenty of opportunities to be crowned Africas best. He just needs to stay focused, keep learning, and continue to grow. His time will comeits a marathon, not a sprint,” Agyemang-Badu added.Kudus enjoyed a remarkable first season with West Ham United after transferring from Ajax Amsterdam for a reported fee of 44.5 million. His performances have drawn attention from top clubs across Europe, and he has quickly become a key player for the Hammers.Despite no Ghanaian player winning the African Player of the Year award since Abedi Ayew in 1992, Agyemang-Badu’s belief in Kudus’s potential suggests that he could soon break this long-standing drought.