Algerian football star Riad Mehrez is close to winning the African Player of the Year award because of his superiority in titles over his rivals, Mohamed Salah, who won the award last year, and Senegal's Sadio Mane, France Football magazine reported.
The French magazine built on the number of trophies won by Mehrez with his country and the Manchester City team, where he led the Algerian national team to the African Nations Cup for the second time in its history after an absence of 29 years.
Mehrez also won five Premier League titles with Manchester City last season, winning the Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup, as well as winning the Charity Shield Cup at the start of last season and early this season.
The magazine reported that Mani and Salah led Liverpool to the Champions League podium as well as the Super title, and shared with Arsenal top scorer Pierre Aubameyang in the Premier League top scorer with 22 goals each.
However, they pointed out that they did not win any local title in England, Salah went out with the Egyptian team from the price of the African Nations Cup final, and Mani failed to resolve the final of the championship, which culminated in Algeria, to beat them significantly scored in the tournament.
Mehrez won the African Player of the Year award in 2016, after leading his team Leicester to a resounding surprise by winning the English Premier League title, to be crowned the Premier Player of the Year and the best sports figure in England for 2016.