Ranking the 20 best African players in Premier League history ft. Salah, Mane and Mahrez | OneFootball

With Riyad Mahrez set to end his stay in the Premier League, we've taken a look at the best African players to have graced the English top flight.

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The Manchester City winger is on his way to Saudi Arabia after helping the side to a historic treble in his final season in England.

City have agreed to sell the Algerian to Al-Ahli for £30 million as he is set to link up with former Liverpool striker, Roberto Firmino.

15 goal contributions from 30 league appearances was a telling contribution in his final season at the Etihad, but he did find himself left out of the starting XI for both the FA Cup and Champions League finals.

There's no doubt Mahrez makes it into the top 20 African players in the Premier League of all-time, but who else joins him?

20 Marc-Vivien Foe

A very sad tale of a football player being taken far too soon saw the Cameroon international passed away while playing for his national side in June 2003.

Foe was once seen as a potential successor for Manchester United captain, Roy Keane, by legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

A broken leg was the only thing to get in the way of a potential transfer to Old Trafford in 1998.

His time at Manchester City and West Ham saw fans fall in love with the energetic midfielder.

19 Rigobert Song

Now the manager of the Cameroon national side, Song was known as a short-tempered defender during his playing days.

Renowned for his poor disciplinary record, he represented his country at four World Cups but was sent off in two of those tournaments.

A brief spell at Liverpool saw Song play out of position as a right-back to good effect.

He made a move to West Ham after losing his starting spot in the Liverpool side, and he went on to underwhelm at the London side.

Only making 27 appearances in two seasons, he later moved on to German side Koln.

18 Salomon Kalou

The Ivorian does not get a lot of credit due to the fact he spent a lot of his time at Stamford Bridge as a substitute.

He did a remarkable job when it came to making an impact from the bench on a regular basis, where many others would have struggled to have contributed as much.

Chelsea won the Premier League once in the six years the forward spent at the club while also winning their first-ever Champions League title in Kalou's final match for the west London side.

17 Tony Yeboah

When it comes to players that score great goals on a regular basis, Yeboah is up there with the very best.

Even younger fans of the Premier League will have likely seen highlights of some of the sensational strikes the Ghanaian produced during his two-and-a-half years in England with Leeds United.

Who could forget his stunning volley against Liverpool that crashed in off the crossbar?

Achieving almost one goal in every two matches, the striker was a firm fan favourite during his time at Elland Road.

16 Benni McCarthy

Only a couple of years after winning the Champions League with Porto under the guidance of Jose Mourinho, the forward joined Blackburn Rovers in 2006.

Making the move to the former Premier League winners did not work out exactly as hoped, but did start in inspiring fashion.

18 goals in his first season was enough to get fans expecting even better results in front of goal in the seasons to follow. However, that didn't quite pan out.

McCarthy left Rovers for West Ham in 2010, before moving back to his native South Africa to play out the final years of his career.

Now 45, McCarthy is back in the Premier League, serving as a first-team coach under Erik ten Hag at Manchester United.

15 John-Obi Mikel

In a crazy story, Mikel moved to Chelsea after looking nailed on to move to Manchester United with the Blues accused of 'kidnapping' the player during negotiations. The player himself later quashed those rumours, though.

The Nigerian midfielder went on to almost spend a decade with the club as he won the league and a European trophy, alongside the aforementioned Kalou.

As a defensive midfielder, the requirements for the role were to break up opposition attacks and give the ball to the forward-thinking players around him.

To make over 300 appearances during a period when Chelsea were laden with midfield talent shows just what a quality operator he was.

14 Lauren

Taking the place of long-serving defender, Lee Dixon at Arsenal, the right-back went on to have a very successful career in England.

Being a vital part of the 'Invincibles' side in 2003/04, Lauren forced his way into debates about the best players in his position in Premier League history.

He was even part of the Portsmouth team to cap an impressive FA Cup run in 2008 by lifting the trophy.

13 Lucas Radebe

Leeds United went on to spend almost two decades outside the top flight in English football after suffering relegation in 2004, but the fortunes of the club were not always so bleak.

Radebe was the man to captain the club in their run to the Champions League semi-final in 2000 amid an 11-year stay in West Yorkshire.

Manchester United boss, Ferguson, was a big admirer of the South African centre-back, even after he rejected a move to Old Trafford.

12 Nwankwo Kanu

It was always hard to tell how the 6"6 tall striker was able to move with such elegance on the football pitch.

Multiple Dutch titles and a European title at Ajax was followed up by an underwhelming spell at Inter Milan before Arsene Wenger snapped him up in 1999.

The Nigerian added to his trophy collection with two league titles with Arsenal before he, like Lauren, lifted the FA Cup with Pompey in 2008.

11 Wilfried Zaha

Zaha has represented both England and Ivory Coast at international level, but he was born in the African country.

A failed move to Manchester United was then quickly followed by a loan back to his original club, Crystal Palace.

He has gained legendary status with the Eagles at the age of just 30 years old with 70 league goals for the club.

Fans always expect something to happen when the electric winger has the ball at his feet, and he could further his legacy if he remains with Palace beyond this summer.

10 Emmanuel Adebayor

Adebayor quickly went from a hero with the Arsenal fan base to an enemy of the club forever.

30 goals in his debut campaign in England made the Togo striker become one of the top players in his position in the league.

A dramatic move to Manchester City in 2009, saw him score against his former club and run the length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the fans.

Just when everyone thought he could not tarnish his Gunners' legacy further, Adebayor moved to fierce rivals Tottenham in 2012.

9 Kolo Toure

Holding an impressive record of taking part in two seasons in which his side went unbeaten, Toure is often overlooked as a top defender of his generation.

Said unbeaten seasons took place at Arsenal and Celtic, although he was only a regular for the English side.

He was also quietly solid at the back for both Manchester CIty and Liverpool before he exited the league.

Toure was not as successful in a managerial spell at Wigan, where he was sacked after only a couple of months in early 2023.

8 Jay-Jay Okocha

Botlon fans would give anything to go back to the early 2000s when they were managed by Sam Allardyce and had exciting players such as Okocha.

A high point in their stay in the top-flight , Bolton were never boring to watch with Okocha at the centre of the entertainment.

It came as a surprise that the Nigerian star moved to the English side on a free transfer from PSG, but he certainly did not disappoint during his time with the club.

7 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

Aubameyang found the back of the net on 69 occasions during spells with both Arsenal and Chelsea, with all but one of those goals being scored for the side that plays in red.

Playing as a central striker and also a left-winger while playing at the Emirates, the former Borussia Dortmund man showed his versatility as well as his finishing ability.

The former Gabon captain's time at Chelsea has not reached the levels of success that his previous stint in England did.

6 Michael Essien

A vital part of a dominant Chelsea side in the late 2000s, Essien collected quite the haul of silverware in west London.

By the time he ended his Stamford Bridge career, he had won the Premier League twice, in addition to four FA Cups, the League Cup and the Champions League.

Injuries slowed his career down earlier than he would have hoped but the impact he had in his shirt time at the top was more than enough to remain towards the top of this list.

5 Riyad Mahrez

As already mentioned, the skillful winger was an important part of a City side to secure the treble in 2022/23.

A throwback to wingers from previous generations, Mahrez was always willing to run at the opposing full-back to create a chance for himself.

He was the best player in Leicester's historic league win during the 2015/16 season.

After leaving The Foxes for the Etihad in 2018, he went on to win the Premier League a further four times.

4 Sadio Mane

It shows just how many top-quality players from Africa have graced the Premier League over the years that Mane places only fourth.

The Senegalese internal began his journey in the English top-flight with Southampton, before moving to Liverpool, where he was instrumental in helping The Reds win their first league title in three decades.

Mane is the second-highest-scoring African player in Premier League history with 111 goals to his name.

3 Didier Drogba

Chelsea signed a striker in 2004 that would go on to become one of the most iconic forwards in the three decades of the Premier League.

While he had spells of inconsistency - particularly when he first signed - Ivorian icon Drogba is often the first name fans will come to when discussing Chelsea's best players in the Premier League era.

With 104 top-flight goals - all scored for the Blues - only 30 men in history have hit the back of the net more often in the competition than Drogba.

2 Yaya Touré

Cast aside by Pep Guardiola and Barcelona as a failed centre-back, the mammoth Ivorian went on to be the most gifted African midfield player of all time.

Not only did he have the power and physicality to compete in the top flight, Touré was also one of the most technically gifted players in the league's history.

1 Mohamed Salah

The Egyptian is regarded as one of the best players in the league currently, if not the best.

Salah is the top-scoring African player in Premier League history and is the only player on this list to still be playing in the division, other than Crystal Palace's Zaha.

Still at the peak of the powers, the 31-year-old will be looking to add plenty more goals to his tally of 139 goals so far.