Chelsea legendary goalkeeper Petr Cech has urged Senegal custodian Edouard Mendy to build on his win of the Fifa Best Goalkeeper Award.

Cech said Mendy deserved to win the award and advised him to avoid dropping the performance guard.

“Edou was named The Best goalkeeper by FIFA and it’s another great achievement for him,” Cech wrote on Chelsea website.

“He is the first African goalkeeper to win the award, which is amazing, and testament to how well he has done since he came to our club. He had an incredible year, winning two trophies, and it reflects his hard work and attitude. It’s great to see him getting recognition, and our other players who made it to the Team of the Year.”

Cech added: “The best thing is Edou can now add more trophies this year. He is at the Africa Cup of Nations now, Senegal are one of the favourites, so he could even win this trophy before he returns to us. And then we have the Club World Cup and the Carabao Cup final to look forward to in a few weeks. Hopefully for him he will be on the right end of three more trophies.

I must touch on Kepa, too. He had to fill those big boots while Edou has been away, and he has been brilliant in all those games under even more scrutiny than usual. You need a strong team and every person ready to help. The goalkeeping group work so hard together to make sure they are all ready for when the moment comes, so Kepa deserves credit too.”

Mendy will be in action on Saturday as Senegal take on Equatorial Guinea in the AFCON quarterfinal stage.