Kenyan international and KAA Gent defender Joseph Okumu missed out on the club’s player of the season award that was voted for by the club’s fans across the world.Morocco’s Tarik Tissoudali, fresh from winning the Ebony Shoe award that is given every year to the best player of African descent in the Belgian league, garnered 34.93% of the votes to be declared the winner, with Cameroon’s Michael Ngadeu coming second closely with 33.15% of the total votes cast.Kenyan International Joseph Okumu scored the all important goal as KAA Gent edged KV Mechelen by a solitary yesterday in Belgium #StarsAbroad pic.twitter.com/2LzPOt5haf— Jeff Kinyanjui (@Nyash88) May 8, 2022 The defender was not among the top five as voted for by the fans in the results announced by the club on Sunday morning after a week of running the poll, as Matisse Samoise, Davy Roef, and Julien De Sart occupied the other slots in the top five with 11.28%, 9.98%, and 3.32% of the votes respectively.Okumu has had a successful debut season with the Belgian side since joining in the summer transfer window from the Swedish side Elfsborg in a deal reported to be in the region of Ksh424M.The former defender of the now-defunct Chemilil Sugar made a total of 47 appearances in the 60-match season for Gent, 31 in the league, six in the Belgium Cup, and 10 in the EUFA Europa Conference League, scoring three goals in the process.Okumu scores as Gent continue their lead in the Europa Conference League PlayoffsHe was instrumental for the club as they bagged the Belgian Cup after upsetting Vincent Kompany’s Anderlecht in the final to claim their fourth cup title in their history.Uproar in Belgium after fan spits at Kenyan defender in Gent’s victory over MechelenHowever, his season has not been short of challenges as he was a recent victim of abuse in the match against KV Mechelen earlier this month in which a fan of the opposing team spat at him.
