Mohamed Salah is the African Player of the Year for 2017, a reward for success on all fronts for the Egypt forward after he inspired his country to a long-awaited World Cup place and had a phenomenal start to his career at Liverpool. Salah won ahead of Liverpool teammate Sadio Mane of Senegal and Borussia Dortmund and Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, the other finalists at Thursday's awards ceremony. The 25-year-old Salah had a memorable year, first as part of the Egypt team that made the African Cup of Nations final in February. Salah was joint top-scorer in the final round of qualifiers as Egypt reached the World Cup for the first time since 1990. He's had a stunning first half of the season at Liverpool with 17 goals in 21 league games and 23 goals in 29 games in all competitions.
