The 2021/2022 season is nearing its conclusion (there is the FA CUP final yet to be played), and with many of the league’s top stars having enjoyed stellar campaigns, social media has been rife with fans debating who should win the prestigious Player of the Season award.
Many names have been put forward by fans, however there is a small selection of players genuinely worthy of the honour. Bechem United’s Augustine Okrah carried his side throughout the season and was immense in their third-place finish. Ashantigold’s Yaw Annor ended the season as the top scorer. Kotoko’s Franck Etouga Mbella is another contender for splendid displays for the Porcupine Warriors in his debut season.
However, there is one man whose contributions have been so immense, he is simply too difficult to overlook- and his name is Umar Bashiru. Whilst Bashiru was expected to have a positive effect on Karela’s midfield this term, nobody could have anticipated the sheer magnitude of his impact.
Bashiru is impenetrable; a rapid-fire rifle footballer- Sergio Busquet’s body with Andres Iniesta’s consciousness uploaded. But it is not because the Karela midfielder has been comfortingly consistent this campaign that he deserves the Player of the Season award- it is because this is his defining campaign: one in which no one has been near his level.
The statistics tell half the story. 14 goals and 4 assists in 33 league appearances is his best return yet, but the manner in which the lanky midfielder has taken to leading Karela United FC is at an unparalleled level right now. Bashiru is a very specific genre of footballer – the latest in a long line of “Sod it, I’ll do it myself” midfielders, imbued with game-changing talent and high-octane work-rate in equal abundance.
There’s something about that kind of player that we really take to, on these shores; this season, he’s eclipsed Rashid Nortey’s efforts last campaign, he’s been better than Salifu Mudasiru, George Asamoah, Frederick Ansah Botchway, even Sulley Muntari or Fabio Gama.
And it's telling that the man’s only criticism is that he plays football like a robot; that watching Karela under Bismark Kobby Mensah is like reading a book written by predictive text. It's a nitpick at best. In truth, Bashiru might have proven this season that he's something more important - that he's a template for future midfielders to model themselves on.
Of course, any of Kotoko’s champions would make a worthy recipient of the Footballer of the Year award. Imoro Ibrahim has been sturdy, if not unspectacular, as the beating heart of Prosper Narteh Ogum’s masterpiece.
Isaac Oppong, Georges Mfegue, Richmond Lamptey, Mudasiru Salifu, Danlad Ibrahim and Samuel Boateng have taken turns in the spotlight; Augustine Agyapong and Christopher Nettey are full-backs of the ilk that we’ve barely seen before; as fans of the sport, we're close to collectively running out of metaphors for Franck Etouga Mbella’s strength and supremacy.
But none of them have carried a team like Umar Bashiru has. None of them have put in a season like this. He was considered a star this time last year; this year, he's cemented himself as one of the defining midfielders to have played in the elite division. He should be in the league of Chibsahs, of Adja Tettehs, of Nii Adjeis and Yahuzas, Copsons and Gladson Awakos.
In the cliche of uncertain times, he’s been Groundhog Day; in a dysfunctional Karela team, he’s been reliant. If we don’t recognise his genius this time around, we never will.
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