Lens and DR Congo's Gael Kakuta named 2021 best African player in Ligue 1
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DR Congo's Gael Kakuta is on loan at Lens from French rivals Amiens
DR Congo and Lens midfielder Gael Kakuta has won the 2021 Marc-Vivien Foe award for the best African player in France's Ligue 1.
The 29-year-old succeeds Nigerian forward Victor Osimhen, who left French club Lille last year to sign for Italian side Napoli.
"I thank God for this but I couldn't have done it all alone without my teammates, this amazing club and everyone that has been a part of my career," the former Chelsea player said.
Kakuta won the award with 219 points ahead of Montpellier's Algerian striker Andy Delort (118) and Lyon's Zimbabwean Tino Kadewere (70).
The award is voted for by journalists from all branches of the media and is co-sponsored by Radio France Internationale (RFI) and France24 TV news channel.
At 29, the former Chelsea player becomes the oldest winner of the trophy; named in honour of Cameroon's Marc-Vivien Foe, who died after collapsing on the pitch during the 2003 Fifa Confederations Cup in France. , external
Kakuta is currently on loan at Lens, where he began his career at youth level, from Ligue 2 side Amiens.
Since joining them last July he has scored 11 goals and provided five assists in 34 Ligue 1 games, to become the first player from DR Congo and Lens to be named French Ligue 1 African Player of the Season.
Clubs and controversy
DR Congo's Gael Kakuta in action for Chelsea in 2010
Kakuta is enjoying something of a renaissance in France after a promising career that started controversially at Chelsea and has taken him to 12 clubs across England, Netherlands, Italy, Spain and China.
The spotlight first fell on Kakuta back in 2007 when English Premier League side Chelsea were so keen to sign him they ultimately earned a transfer ban from Fifa for supposedly inducing Kakuta to break his contract with Lens.
Chelsea received a 16-month transfer ban in September 2009 from Fifa as a result - which was lifted soon after when Chelsea, Lens and Kakuta all accepted that the player's contract with the French side had not been valid.
After a promising start to his Chelsea career - finishing as the youth team's top scorer and voted academy player of 2007-08 - Kakuta's fortunes soon dipped.
First, an ankle injury suffered in February 2009 kept him out for six months.
Later that year, he was banned from playing for four months and given a fine of 780,000 Euros as a result of the Lens contract dispute.
Once the sanctions were lifted in February 2010, the future looked brighter for Kakuta - as he went on to make 16 appearances for the Blues before signing a new four-and-a-half-year deal in December.
But within weeks, he was loaned to Fulham and then, after failing to fire, to Bolton Wanderers before another deal took him to French outfit Dijon in 2012.
After struggling to settle down in the French top flight, he also failed to establish himself on loan spells in the Netherlands (Vitesse Arnhem), Italy (Lazio) and Spain (Rayo Vallecano) before he was released by Chelsea mid-2015.
He then signied a lengthy deal with high-profile Sevilla, but his time in Spain was blighted by injuries and loss of form.
Just five appearances later, he was on the move again - to Chinese Super League side Hebei China Fortune in February 2016.
After ten months, he was back in Spain - on loan again - with Deportivo La Coruna until the end of last season.
Winning the Marc-Vivien Foe seems to have justified Kakuta's decision to end his contract with Hebei Fortune by mutual consent in July 2017 in order to join Amiens.
Previous winners of the Marc-Vivien Foe trophy:
2020: Victor Osimhen (Nigeria, Lille)
2019: Nicholas Pepe (Ivory Coast, Lille)
2018: Karl Toko Ekambi (Cameroon, Angers)
2017: Jean Michael Seri (Ivory Coast, Nice)
2016: Sofiane Boufal (Morocco/Lille)
2015: Andre Ayew (Ghana/Marseille)
2014: Vincent Enyeama (Nigeria/Lille)
2013: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon/Saint-Étienne)
2012: Younes Belhanda (Morocco/Montpellier)
2011: Gervinho (Ivory Coast/Lille)
2010: Gervinho (Ivory Coast/Lille)
2009: Marouane Chamakh (Morocco/Bordeaux)