Henry Onyekuru has expressed his delight after he was named Most Promising Player of the Year at the 2017 Soulier d’Or Awards in Brussels, Belgium, on Wednesday,
The Soulier d’Or or Belgian Golden Shoe Awards is an award given in Belgium at the beginning of each year to the best footballer of the Belgian first division for the past year.
The trophy is sponsored by the Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws.
Onyekuru who is currently recuperating from a knee injury he sustained in December won the award ahead of Mechelen’s Hassan Bandé and Landry Dimata.
Onyekuru had a brilliant 2017 as KAS Eupen player and as a loanee at Anderlecht,. from Everton. He scored 24 goals for Eupen and 10 for Anderlecht. He returned to the Premier League side after injury stopped his fine showing for the Belgian giants.Onyekuru polled 219 votes while Bande and Dimata recorded 162 and 128 votes respectively.
Reacting to the award, Onyekuru promised there are more awards to come for him.
Henry Onyekuru named Belgian Talent of the Year #goudenschoen pic.twitter.com/wytm6rroik
— Football 24/7 (@foetball247) February 7, 2018
“I am honoured to receive the Belgium talent of the year award, it has been a great journey so far and there is more to come. I thank the almighty God for his grace, and I also want to thank my family for their love and support,” he wrote on his verified Twitter handle.
The Super Eagles forward also expressed his happiness to Everton’s official website about the award.
“I want to thank everyone for their support in helping me win this award,” Onyekuru told Evertonfc.com
“I want to thank God for life and making me who I am today, and my family for always pushing me to get to this stage.
“I must also thank Aspire Academy for the help they gave me and for taking me to KAS Eupen.
“The fans of Eupen and Anderlecht have always been fantastic to me, and alongside my teammates and the staff, allowed me to win this award. Winning this accolade gives me confidence and inspires me to come back to the pitch as fast as I can.”
Onyekuru’s parent club, Everton, had congratulated their player who is playing for Anderlecht as a loanee.
The Premier League club tweeted on Wednesday night: “Congratulations to @henryconyekuru, who has been named Belgium’s Talent of the Year this evening.”
