'We knew little about him before' - Okocha credits Chelsea for putting AFCON's best GK in spotlight

Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy was the hero for Senegal as the Lions of Teranga won their first Africa Cup of Nations in history, beating Mohamed Salah's Egypt 4-2 on penalties on Sunday night.

When the game went to penalties, most fans and pundits thought Egypt would have the upper hand as they saw off Ivory Coast and Cameroon on penalties on their way to the final.

Mendy produced a smart save to deny Mohanad Lasheen from scoring the Pharaoh's fourth kick, handing Sadio Mane the opportunity to convert Senegal's last kick and seal the win.

The Senegalese glovesman was named the best goalkeeper of AFCON 2021 after posting three clean sheets from his five appearances during the tournament in Cameroon.

A late bloomer on the international stage, the 29-year-old Mendy has earned less than 23 international caps since his debut in November 2018.

Nigeria legend Austin Okocha has highlighted that Mendy was an unknown quantity before his move to Chelsea and credited the European champions for putting him in the spotlight.

The 1994 Africa Cup of Nations winner believes the highly-competitive Premier League has made the former Rennes goalkeeper a better player.

Speaking on punditry duties for SuperSport, Okocha said : "Since he signed for Chelsea his potential came out and we knew little about him before then. It shows when you are in a good league, when you are competing every week you keep improving.

"He showed in this competition that it's not a fluke that he's the best goalkeeper in the world and I think that award must have gone to him because of the amount of clean sheets that he kept, five clean sheets is a Championship winner for you.

"If you don't concede goals you give yourself the possibility of winning matches and when it matters the most he saved that penalty to give his nation to opportunity to score the winner.

"For me we've seen a lot of good keepers in this tournament but deservedly he's keeper of the tournament."