Kenyan international Erick Ouma also known as ‘Marcelo’ in football circles has been ranked as one of the best players globally with the best take on index among defenders.
Ouma who plies his trade in Sweden with AIK football club has been ranked in position 59 with a score of 75.8/100 according to a report by the CIES Football Observatory, a study group within the International Centre.
Mainly a left-back Ouma can also be deployed in all other positions on the left side being a utility for the national team Harambee Stars and boasts of a delicious left foot and darting runs to boot.
João Cancelo, currently on loan from Bayern München from Manchester City is ranked as the best defensive player on the take-on aspect with a total score of 87.7 out of 100.
However, Ouma is ahead of some key names on the world stage including Manchester United’s left-back Luke Shaw (75.4), Pervis Estupiñán (75.2) of Brighton & Hove, Aston Villa’s Lucas Digne (74.8), Bayern München’s Daley Blind (74.5), West Ham’s Aaron Creswell (73.7), Real Madrid’s Ferland Mendy (73.4), and another Bayern München’s player in Benjamin Pavard (73.0).
Marcelo, from the time he burst onto the KPL scene, straight from high school, hasn’t disappointed.
Since moving to Sweden at the start of 2020, the 26-year-old defender has had a total of 15 goal contributions from 6,214 minutes accumulated over 73 matches across all competitions, scoring three and setting up 12 others.
Ouma made his international debut for Kenya in 2016 and in 2019 when he was named in the Harambee Stars squad for the Africa Cup of Nations finals in Egypt.
Kenya was pooled alongside Senegal, Algeria, and Tanzania.
According to sports enthusiasts, the lad has everything needed to feature in any of the big five leagues in Europe. It’s just a matter of time.
Top clubs Atalanta in Italy, Russia’s Rubin Kazan, Wolfsburg (Germany), and Premier League outfit Crystal Palace have been mentioned as among the top clubs baying to sign the first rising star.
In recent interviews, Ouma admitted his desire is to play in a bigger league in Europe before ending his career.
