Ten days ago the Chelsea goalkeeper was one of 10 nominated by the Confederation of African Football for the poll of CAF officials, journalists and the coaches and captains of African international and elite club teams. This was then whittled down to a final three.

From those three, winning the award for a second year running is Mendy’s team-mate at international level, Sadio Mane, who recently swapped Liverpool for Bayern Munich. The other name on the shortlist was Mo Salah.

Mendy is the first goalkeeper to make it into the top three since 2014.

Meanwhile Senegal, for whom our latest signing Kalidou Koulibaly plays as well as Mendy, have been named Africa’s Men’s National Team of the Year, which comes as no surprise.

The Lions of Teranga, captained by Koulibaly, won the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time earlier this year, with Mendy saving a crucial penalty in the shoot-out in the final, with a repeat happening against the same opposition Egypt to qualify for this winter’s World Cup.