Kudus, Raphael Onyedika named in Africa's most valuable U-23 players
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Ajax and Club Brugge

Kudus, Raphael Onyedika named in Africa's most valuable U-23 players

Izuchukwu Akawor 10:04 - 06.04.2023

Ghana's Mohammed Kudus and Nigerian duo Raphael Onyedika and Victor Boniface were included in the list of 100 U-23 players outside the top five leagues based on transfer values.

Three players from Ghana, Morocco and Nigeria have made it to a list of the 100 most valuable players under the age of 23.

The trio of Mohammed Kudus, Anass Zaroury and Rapahel Onyedika were ranked amongst the most valuable based on market values by the CIES Football Observatory.

Super Eagles hopeful
Victor Boniface has been in great form for Royale Union Saint Gilloise

In their latest issue as monitored by Pulse Sports Nigeria, the three players were the highest-ranked Africans on the list.

Kudus leads the way

The CIES Football Observatory took a look at the most valuable players aged 23 or under outside the major leagues in the world.

Mohammed Kudus of Ajax
Ghana's superstar Kudus was one of the stars for the Black Stars at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Following their report, Ajax and Ghana’s Kudus came out as the seventh most valuable player on the list, with the Ghanaian said to be valued at €44m.

He is followed by Moroccan forward, Zaroury, who is the 33rd most valuable U-23 player outside the top five leagues with a value of €18m.

Raphael Onyedika in action for Club Brugge against Benfica
Raphael Onyedika in action for Club Brugge against Benfica

The Atlas Lion is quickly followed by Nigeria’s defensive midfielder, Onyedika, who is ranked 34th on the list with a value of €18m.

Onyedika is not the only Nigerian player who made the list as he is followed by Union Saint-Gilloise superstar, Victor Boniface.

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Boniface, who is the joint-top scorer in the UEFA Europa League this season, is valued at €15m.

Other Africans who made the list are Abakar Sylla of Ivory Coast (€14m), Morocco’s Bilal El Khannous (€13m) and Simon Adingra (€11m) also from Ivory Coast.

Nigeria ranked youngest team

Meanwhile, in an earlier issue by the CIES, Nigeria’s Super Eagles were ranked 113 out of 126 associations in the World, with Egypt as the oldest in Africa.

Super Eagles
The Super Eagles of Nigeria are the youngest national team in Africa

Former African champions the Super Eagles of Nigeria have been ranked as one of the youngest in Africa and the World.

The Super Eagles were ranked as the 14th youngest national team in the World out of 126 analysed by the reliable CIES Football Observatory.

Nigeria Super Eagles
Samuel Chukweze and Victor Osimhen are two of Eagles' youngsters.

The ranking according to CIES was based on the average age of the 126 senior men’s national teams’ lineups used in the last 12 months.

With that considered, the Eagles came out 14th in the World out of the 126 teams, with an average age of 25.30 years.

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This also ensured that Nigeria finished as the fourth youngest team in Africa behind Burkina Faso, who have the youngest, Tanzania and Zambia, who have an average age of 25.06, 25.08 and 25.35 respectively.

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