Unlike, say, Cameroon, great — really, really great — goalkeepers aren’t a breed Ghana is reputed for.

Still, the country boasts a sufficiently rich heritage of glovesmen that’s featured the likes of Kwao Baffoe, Dodoo Ankrah, John Naawu, Robert Mensah, Joseph Carr, Sammy Adjei and Richard Kingson – all top-of-the-range in their day.

Theirs is a pantheon many in the modern generation seek to join but, at present, no candidate seems as eligible as Felix Annan of Asante Kotoko. Aged 24, it’s truly too early to reckon Annan among those legends, but we’ve already seen enough to predict he’d likely belong when his career — hopefully long and successful — ends someday.

Annan has been Kotoko’s first-choice in recent years, one of few constants in a squad that’s seen little stability under a succession of technical heads. And it isn’t just the goal-line that Annan has manned with distinction; it’s also the line which separates Kotoko’s success and its failure, guarded ever so jealously by the WAFA graduate.

For all his brilliance, however, Annan has received little validation from the world that lies beyond Kotoko’s circles — not officially, anyway. It’s why, despite knocking on the doors of the Black Stars for sometime and indeed being overqualified for the national team’s No.1 spot, Annan hasn’t been able to barge in. But a breakthrough could be in sight, following his nomination for the Footballer of the Year gong at the 44th SWAG Awards.

That Annan is battling for the prize with foreign-based outfield players is flattering enough; that he’s even on the list at all is a much bigger compliment. Annan was competitive for less than half of the year under review — 2018 — due to the league season’s late start and its premature termination, but he oozed just enough class in that limited time not to miss the honor roll. In many games, his saves saved Kotoko points and won them a few more, helping Paa Kwesi Fabin’s team fight bravely through a difficult spell.

In Kotoko’s two African campaigns of the year, too, Annan was influential. It wasn’t his fault that the first ended in heartbreak (actually, Annan’s penalty heroics almost dragged Kotoko through it), but he’s surely had a hand – literally – in the success of the latest. With the Porcupine Warriors advancing to the group stage of the Caf Confederation Cup for the first time in 11 years, there is even more to be achieved, and Annan would remain key.

He won’t be all over the place like sprightly attacker Maxwell Baakoh, while skipper Amos Frimpong would be called on for those decisive spotkicks, but Annan would definitely do as much as anyone else on Kotoko’s roster; a driving force, certainly, and a definite reference point. A strong showing in the inter-club competition would only strengthen Annan’s claim for a call-up — and, even better, the starting role — when Ghana appears at the Africa Cup of Nations in the summer.

Picking SWAG’s award on May 11 — the month before the Afcon kicks off — would be quite a boost, but should that even not happen, Annan — as the tweet just above suggests — knows he’d have already made his mark.