Who is the best African player of all time?And why isn’t it the unanimous answer, Mohamed Salah?
Ask around. The responses to the question, while thought-provoking, tend to yield similar answers.
Didier Drogba is often mentioned. Yaya Toure and Samuel Eto’o shouts exist also, while the likes of George Weah, Nwankwo Kanu and Roger Milla are rightfully offered by fans of a certain vintage.The Egyptian King’s future at Liverpool may be up in the air, but so is his legacy in African football.
Often overlooked for the African Player of the Year award, Salah’s name tends to sit alongside those names as peers but a triumph at Morocco’s AFCON could set him apart as the unequivocally acclaimed king of Africa. He last claimed the award in 2018 and this year he was snubbed for the honour, with PSG’s Achraf Hakimi winning it in November.
The football purist may be critical of Salah’s preference for the efficient over the aesthetic but his numbers are immutable. With 250 goals for Liverpool, fourth on the all-time Premier League goalscorers list and four English top-flight golden boots, Salah’s reputation on these shores is ironclad.
The European stage knows of Salah, too. A winner of the Champions League, Salah has three appearances in the showpiece of the greatest club competition in Europe.
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Salah reached the AFCON final in 2017 and 2021 but lost on both occasions
No African player has scored more than the 33-year-old in the Champions League. But there’s this overall feeling that Salah still has something to prove.Salah has never won the AFCON. His country, Egypt are the most successful side in the competition’s history with seven wins but two final appearances in 2017 and 2021 are all that Salah can boast.On the latter occasion, Salah lost out to his then club team-mate Sadio Mane, whose Senegal side won on penalties.In 2023, his tournament was cut short by injury. After scoring in Egypt’s opening game, Salah’s injury in the following group clash forced him to return to his club. Egypt eventually fell to a quarter-final defeat to DR Congo after a shootout.In a scathing response to Salah’s post-match Leeds bombshell interview, Jamie Carragher mentioned the Liverpool man’s lack of success in Africa earlier this month.
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2025-12-22 09:45:00
