African Cup of Nations 2019: Top 5 contenders for the Golden Boot

#2 Hakim Ziyech (Morocco)

Morocco have pinned their faith on Ziyech

Ajax’s fairytale campaign last season was scripted by several young and ebullient players coming of age.

And even though Ziyech doesn’t really fall into the same bracket of the young guns, he too had a telling contribution in the domestic double success as well as the semi-final finish in the Champions League.

After all, the Grodinzonen winger struck 21 times and made a staggering 24 assists throughout the course - posting his career best figures after truly a remarkable season. However, he’s yet to replicate any of these heroics with the Atlas Lions.

He fired a blank in last year’s World Cup and struck only thrice in the qualifiers of the African Cup, missing a large chunk of it due to injury issues.

But coming off the back of such a productive season, Morocco will have plenty of expectations from Ziyech, who, if able to conjure even an iota of that barnstorming form, can rip defences apart.