Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy has been named in the Africa Cup of Nations’ most valuable starting XI.
The Senegalese shot stopper was one of four Premier League players to be featured in the team alongside Liverpool forwards Sadio Mane (Senegal) and Mohamed Salah (Egypt) and Leicester City defensive midfielder Wilfred Ndidi (Nigeria).
The XI was put together by popular transfer and statistics website Transfermarkt, who calculate the value of football teams and players worldwide.
In this imaginary team, Mendy is protected by Paris Saint Germain full-backs Achraf Hakimi (Morocco) and Abdou Diallo (Senegal), alongside Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal) and Bayer Leverkusen’s Edmond Tapsoba (Burkina Faso).
In midfield, Ndidi is joined by AC Milan’s Franck Kessie (Ivory Coast) - who has been heavily linked with a move to Arsenal and Spurs in recent months - and Sassuolo’s Hamed Junior Traore (Ivory Coast).
Finally, Sevilla striker Youssef En-Nesyri (Morocco) starts alongside the Liverpool pair.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given he’s a goalkeeper, Mendy is one of the lesser valued members of the team at just £28.8 million, compared to former Chelsea player Salah who is valued the highest at £90million.
While plenty of London-based players are going to AFCON, Mendy is the only member of the Chelsea squad at the tournament, with Hakim Ziyech not called up after a falling out with Morocco manager Vahid Halilhodžić.
Blues’ loanee Baba Rahman, currently at Reading, has also been called up for Ghana.
The tournament starts today (Sunday) with hosts Cameroon taking on Burkina Faso.
