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Gyan, Ayew, Eto'o, Toure and Drogba have been nominated for the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú African Footballer of 2010

The Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú shortlist for the 2010 African Footballer of the Year has underlined West Africa's dominance of such awards - because around three-quarters of winners of both the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú and (Caf) accolades hail from the region.

Great names stand out: and Nwankwo Kanu (Nigeria), Abedi Pele and Michael Essien (Ghana), Ivorian Didier Drogba, and Roger Milla and Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon) to name but a few.

Liberia's , meanwhile, is the only African to be crowned Fifa World Player of the Year.

Weah also won the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú award in 1995 and this year, another West African will join him - with Drogba and Eto'o joined on the shortlist by Yaya Toure, Asamoah Gyan and Andre 'Dede' Ayew.

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Six months ago the question couldn't have been asked but it's certainly relevant now following the , Diego Milito's recent absence and the goals, the endless goals: is there a better striker in the world right now than Samuel Eto'o?

The Cameroonian's goalscoring ability hasn't been in question since his Real Mallorca days but it was hidden under a bushel during Jose Mourinho's reign at the San Siro given the latter's preference for Milito to single-handedly spearhead this attack.

"When we had the chance to bring in Eto'o, I thought I could play 4-4-2 and 4-3-3," . "I knew that in Europe you needed to be more balanced and Eto'o could give me that."

So the Portuguese bought the Indomitable Lion for his versatility which initially saw Eto'o deployed as Milito's partner before being withdrawn more and more onto the flanks until some were .

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