Wilfred Ndidi emerges as English Premier League's top tackler setting new record in the process

SUPER Eagles midfielder Wilfred Ndidi has been voted the best tackler in the English Premier League during the course of the just-concluded 2018/19 season after it was revealed he made 144 tackles over the course of the campaign.

Ndidi, 22, has over the last two seasons established himself as the mainstay of Leicester City's midfield where he is an ever-present regular. Last season, which was his first with the club, following his transfer from Genk in Belgium, Ndidi was voted as the Leicester Young Player of the Year.

During the 2017/18 season, Ndidi won 138 tackles and he has now gone six better during the last campaign which saw Leicester finish in ninth place in the league. Ndidi has now made history by becoming the first player to lead the top of tackle charts for two consecutive seasons.

On Saturday, Ndidi played for 67 minutes in the Foxes’ last game of the season against Chelsea before being replaced by Shinji Okazaki. His performance as the best tackler in the league was followed closely by two other Africans as Everton's Senegalese midfielder Idrissa Gueye came second with 143 tackles, while Crystal Palace's Congolese rightback and Aaron Wan-Bissaka, came third with 128 tackles.

Apart from being the top tackler, Ndidi becomes on the third Nigerian ever to have played in every match of a Premier League season. Joseph Yobo was the first Nigerian to achieve this feat having featured 38 times for Everton during the 2006/07 season, while Victor Moses repeated the feat with Wigan during the 2011/12 campaign.