With the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations set to kick off on Sunday, The Athletic takes a look back at the African players who have made themselves cult heroes at each Premier League club…
Arsenal — Kanu (Nigeria)
Arsenal have been blessed with a number of excellent African players over the years. Arsene Wenger was a champion of African talent, and brought the likes of Lauren, Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Adebayor and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to the club. Patrick Vieira would come into consideration, had he chosen to represent Senegal, the country of his birth, rather than France. However, the crown of Arsenal’s African icon can only be bestowed on one man: King Kanu.
Advertisement
There was a time it was feared Kanu would have to stop playing before he even joined Arsenal. Tests shortly after joining Inter Milan in 1996 revealed he had an overloaded left ventricle caused by a deformed aortic valve.
Signing him for Arsenal, then, was a gamble — one reflected in a low transfer fee of just £4.15 million. Curiously enough, the player Wenger compared Kanu to at his unveiling was Alan Smith — a goalscorer but also a target man, someone capable of making other players shine.
In truth, comparing Kanu to anyone was perhaps a fool’s errand: he was astonishingly unique. Tall, lanky, but with great upper body strength, and gifted with extraordinary footwork, he was a challenge Premier League central defenders had never quite faced before. Although he was not often a first-choice player, his contributions were always memorable. There was the stunning back-heeled goal against Middlesbrough, or the audacious dummy against Deportivo de La Coruna.
Perhaps his finest hour was his hat-trick against Chelsea, the third goal sealing a come-back from 2-0 down, after a dizzying dribble and outrageous curled finish. Kanu overcame his cardiac problems to find a permanent place in the hearts of the Arsenal fans.
James McNicholas
Aston Villa — Ahmed Elmohamady (Egypt)
For sheer brilliance, it should be Christian Benteke. Or for a mixture of both guts and guile, it would be rude not to mention George Boateng.
But as Benteke (born in Zaire) and Boateng (born in Ghana) went on to represent Belgium and the Netherlands respectively, the honour goes to a cult hero instead.
“King Elmo” was how Ahmed Elmohamady became known among team-mates and supporters during his four seasons at the club.
He was a no-nonsense full-back who could play on either side of the pitch and regularly contributed with assists through his pin-point crossing.
Advertisement
Jack Grealish regularly spoke about Elmohamady in glowing terms, explaining how his consistency and reliability was often overlooked.
Managers Steve Bruce and Dean Smith loved him too. Rarely injured, versatile, and confident enough to dish out a dressing-down if one of his team-mates needed it, Elmohamady played a big part in the most enjoyable period of Villa’s recent past.
He featured heavily in the promotion-winning season, laying on an assist for a goal in the 2-1 win over Derby County in the play-off final, and then helped keep Villa in the Premier League during Project Restart.
Goals were not really his thing but his final strike in claret and blue couldn’t have been more important.
With time running out in a game at Newcastle United in June 2020, where defeat would have all-but sealed relegation, Elmohamady popped up with a late equaliser to save a point. It sparked a Great Escape in the final few games and etched the Egyptian’s name in Aston Villa folklore.
Gregg Evans
Brentford — Lloyd Owusu (Ghana)
It’s impossible to speak to any Brentford fan about Said Benrahma without a glint appearing in their eye. When the winger moved to West London from Nice in the summer of 2018, hardly anybody had heard of him.
Within weeks, though, the Algerian’s balletic feet had made the crowd at Griffin Park fall hopelessly in love with him. The 26-year-old is undoubtedly the best African player to represent Brentford, but their true cult hero is Ghanaian striker Lloyd Owusu.
Owusu joined Brentford from non-League Slough Town in 1998 and was an instant hit. The forward scored 22 goals as he helped the Bees win the Third Division title in his first season at the club. He tormented opposition defences with his speed and scored three hat-tricks in the league that year, including two against Southend United. Famous for celebrating his goals by dancing, he pulled off the robot after hitting a volley from outside the box in an FA Cup tie against Stockport.
Advertisement
When Owusu’s contract ended in 2002, he joined Championship side Sheffield Wednesday and then had a spell at Reading. However in 2005, at the age of 28, he returned to Griffin Park and it was during this time that he received his first cap for Ghana. The striker was determined to play for them at the 2006 World Cup in Germany but he was ruled out of the tournament after tearing a muscle in his groin and he never broke back into the squad after that.
Jay Harris
Brighton & Hove Albion — Adam El-Abd (Egypt)
Yves Bissouma (Mali) and Enock Mwepu (Zambia) are key midfielders in Brighton and Hove Albion’s current squad, but they will struggle to match the longevity of former defender Adam El-Abd.
He played 300 league games for the club in the Championship and League One in a total of 342 appearances from 2003 to 2014.
El-Abd, born in Brighton, has an Egyptian father. Part of the club’s youth system from the age of nine, he always longed to play for his dad’s country. The opportunity finally came in May 2012, at the age of 27, when then-Egypt coach Bob Bradley selected El-Abd for friendlies against Cameroon, Togo and Senegal, after he was given a military exemption.
El-Abd even took up Arabic lessons so that he could forge a better understanding with his new international team-mates.
He made one further appearance, against Mozambique in a World Cup qualifier, and Egyptian fans likened El-Abd to another shaven-headed central defender, the iconic Wael Gomaa.
El-Abd was renowned at Brighton for his tenacity and versatility. He also played at right-back and in midfield and, as a local boy, was popular with supporters.
He was player of the season when Brighton won League One under Gus Poyet in 2010-11.
Still playing at the age of 37 and coaching the under-18s at Whitehawk in the Isthmian League, he’ll be rooting for Mohamed Salah and Co in Cameroon.
Advertisement
Andy Naylor
Burnley — Maxwel Cornet (Ivory Coast)
All it took was Maxwel Cornet getting stripped as he prepared to come on for his Premier League debut against Arsenal for the electricity to begin.
The eruption when he entered the field was one of the loudest heard at Turf Moor for some time. The songs began. Burnley supporters had found their new hero. Cornet-mania had begun.
It was a signing so “un-Burnley” like that there was scepticism throughout the summer despite the club’s reported interest.
A Champions League calibre player coming to Burnley was always going to create excitement and intrigue. Nobody could have imagined just how good he has been.
His first goal against Leicester was worth the transfer fee alone and since then he has been competing in his own goal of the season competition. Somehow they seem to keep getting better with his most recent goal from a free kick against Leeds another spectacular strike.
The fact that it ended Burnley’s four-year wait to score a goal directly from a free kick makes him a legend immediately.
Off the pitch he has fitted in seamlessly. His team-mates love his energy and attitude and, importantly, Cornet is enjoying life at his new club.
Burnley are not blessed with a large range of African players to choose from but that did not matter. Cornet’s impact has been so good in the fourth months since his arrival, it was hardly a debate.
Andy Jones
Chelsea — Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast)
When you think of a Chelsea African Icon, Didier Drogba instantly comes to your mind.
The club have had other talented players from the continent represent them, including Michael Essien, Samuel Eto’o, George Weah, Mikel John Obi, Salomon Kalou and current first-choice goalkeeper Edouard Mendy. But as he did on a football pitch, Drogba stands head and shoulders above the rest.
Advertisement
The guy was a phenomenal striker for Chelsea, one they have struggled to replace ever since he left the first time in 2012 (he came back for one more season in 2014-15 but had just a squad role). Only Diego Costa has come close to matching the remarkable standard Drogba set between 2004-12.
It took Drogba a few seasons to fully settle into English football and win over the fans, despite playing a part in Jose Mourinho’s first two title wins. But he is now regarded as a Premier League legend, not just a Chelsea one.
He sits fourth in the club’s all-time leading scorer chart with an impressive 164 goals. More significantly was when he found the net, rather than the number of times. He was the man for the big occasion as his record of nine goals in 10 finals shows (Chelsea won seven of the finals he scored in).
Drogba’s most important contribution was of course his exploits in Chelsea’s first Champions League win a decade ago, firstly by scoring a late equaliser against Bayern Munich with a trademark header and then the decisive spot kick in the shootout.
The 43-year-old’s football career would be more than enough to warrant accolades, but he has also used his status and influence to help Ivory Coast, where he’s from, and other nations.
As far as inspirational footballers go, Drogba sets the standard.
Simon Johnson
Crystal Palace — Wilfried Zaha (Ivory Coast)
There are myriad reasons why Wilfried Zaha is so adored by Crystal Palace supporters, and it is he who claims this title of the club’s African icon. Even despite often returning from international duty with the Ivory Coast with illness or injury, or being ruled out of squads with minor issues, Zaha is fully committed to representing the country of his birth.
He recently described it as “an honour that I never ever take for granted,” with manager Patrick Vieira adding that he “made it clear how much he loves playing for the Ivory Coast national team and about how proud he would be to go to the World Cup with them.”
Advertisement
Zaha still bamboozles defenders almost 12 years on from his Palace debut, having become arguably the club’s greatest ever player. The speed and skill with which he shifts the ball between his feet, the driving runs at full-backs, the sheer number of times that he has responded to taunting from opposition fans by scoring an important goal and how critical he was in winning Palace promotion to the Premier League in 2013. All of these things and so many more have endeared him to supporters over time.
In all, he has been fouled 708 times in the Premier League, significantly more than any other current player, and only 19 shy of being the all-time most fouled player, overtaking Kevin Davies.
Matt Woosnam
Everton — Daniel Amokachi (Nigeria)
Everton have had some gifted and hugely popular African players over the years.
Steven Pienaar and Yakubu Ayegbeni were typically astute signings by David Moyes, who shone brightly in terms of creativity, goals and memorable celebrations. Then of course there was the brief but tantalising Goodison spell for one of the greatest African players of all time, Samuel Eto’o.
But arguably the club’s African icon has to be one who helped them win a trophy. That, then, is the man forever closely associated with that wonderful 1995 FA Cup win.
Daniel Amokachi — the striker who subbed himself on during the semi-final against Tottenham and scored a brace. Next was another cameo in the second half at Wembley to help Joe Royle’s side clinch the trophy — the last time they won silverware.
Amokachi (or Amo) was seen as a coup for Royle’s predecessor Mike Walker when he landed his signature after Nigeria’s impressive showing in the 1994 World Cup.
He only made 40 appearances for the Merseysiders, scoring 10 goals in a brief two-season spell as he struggled to dislodge Duncan Ferguson and Paul Rideout from the striking berths, but remains an iconic figure for his part in that cup run.
Advertisement
“The best substitution I never made,” was Royle’s verdict after Amokachi’s Elland Road heroics.
And the image of him frolicking on the Wembley pitch in his blue beret will linger long in the memory.
Greg O’Keefe
Leeds United — Lucas Radebe (South Africa)
With the exception of the men who made the Revie era what it was (and perhaps Marcelo Bielsa), no-one at Leeds United walks on water in quite the same way as Lucas Radebe. He is treated like royalty at Elland Road and has long been a superstar in his homeland of South Africa too — not least because he became Nelson Mandela’s personal hero.
Injuries were the bane of Radebe’s career but that career was outstanding nonetheless and at his peak he was a technically superb centre-back, a player Alex Ferguson said “everyone should be interested in”. He claimed an Africa Cup of Nations winners’ medal in 1996 and captained South Africa in 44 of his 70 international appearances, the face of their team for so many years.
The football was one thing but the bigger story with Radebe is where he came from: apartheid, the tough and dangerous township of Soweto and a home with four rooms occupied by 12 people. He was shot in the back and lucky to survive and he lost his first wife, Feziwe, when she was only 34 but despite everything, he became one of the most personable and optimistic people anyone could meet.
Manchester United and Ferguson came calling for Radebe at Elland Road while the defender was at the height of his powers. Radebe turned them down. “Forget about the trophies,” he told The Athletic in 2020. “The way I saw it, I belonged to Leeds United.”
Phil Hay
Leicester City — Riyad Mahrez (Algeria)
The manner of his departure and subsequent comments about losing two years of his career may have tainted his legacy at Leicester City, but in his pomp Mahrez was quite simply the most talented individual to have ever pulled on the blue shirt.
Advertisement
Next to nothing was known about the winger when Leicester stumped up just £450,000 for him from French second division club Le Havre, after being scouted by chance by head of recruitment Steve Walsh. And when he took his first tentative steps into the English game he looked like the physicality of the Championship would negate his obvious technical prowess.
However, once he learned to play for the team and added some defensive qualities to his game to supplement his obvious attacking talent he emerged as one of Leicester’s match winners during the title-winning season.
So often in games where Leicester were struggling to break down stubborn opponents they would have one ace to play — give the ball to Mahrez and leave him to conjure up some magic. Invariably, he did just that.
As former team-mate and fellow title-winner Danny Simpson, who always provided his defensive back-up down the right flank, would often say — defenders knew what was coming, he wanted to step in onto his left foot, but that didn’t mean they could stop him.
His emergence also raised the club’s profile in Africa with thousands of Algerians following his success through the club’s social media channels, making him an asset off the pitch as well as on it.
Rob Tanner
Liverpool — Joel Matip (Cameroon)
Liverpool have had some memorable African players feature for the club down the years. From Bruce Grobbelaar to Titi Camara, Djimi Traore and beyond.
In recent seasons it is Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah who have had the biggest impact on the trajectory and success of Liverpool. It does feel weird to be overlooking the pair. However, Joel Matip deserves his moment.
The Cameroonian is a cult hero at Liverpool and will remain that long into the future. You need only take a scroll through “No Context Joel Matip” on Twitter to get a feel for how much he is loved by fans.
Advertisement
It is his defending which has been crucial with Liverpool having to depend on him at times in recent seasons. His assist for Divock Origi in the Champions League final in 2019 is perhaps his most famous contribution of all. Even for his injury struggles, Matip will go down as one of Liverpool’s best ever free transfers and will always rank highly when the best African players to play for the club are discussed.
Caoimhe O’Neill
Manchester City — Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast)
Yaya Toure is one of City’s very best players of all time, and is arguably the player that did more to establish them at the top of the English game than anybody else.
If there was a big game then Toure was the man that City could rely upon: it was he who slammed home a seismic winner in the 2011 FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United, a game that really helped to change the landscape, and he followed it up with the winner in the final, City’s first silverware in 35 years.
Sergio Aguero famously secured the Premier League title a year later with his goal against Queens Park Rangers but Toure’s two goals at Newcastle the previous weekend were also vital, as they ensured City went into the final weekend at the top of the table.
And when City won the league again in 2014 he delivered one of the finest individual campaigns of any player in the competition’s history, scoring 20 goals from midfield, many of them beautiful, devastating, vital, or a combination of the three. Just like his goal in the League Cup final against Sunderland that year.
City’s modern legends have been set apart by common characteristics: players like Vincent Kompany, David Silva and Sergio Aguero were world-class players and integral parts of a new era of success. Toure belongs in that company because not only was he a wonderful midfielder who can legitimately claim to be right up there with Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira in the pantheon of Premier League great players, but his fingerprints were all over City’s successes during his time at the club.
Advertisement
That combination of magic and substance is only found in the very best players, and that’s what Yaya Toure was.
Sam Lee
Manchester United — Quinton Fortune (South Africa)
Nine African players have made a first-team appearance for Manchester United. In a strange quirk of fate, one of them — Wilfred Zaha — only declared for the Ivory Coast after leaving Old Trafford, and another — Hannibal — hasn’t made a senior United appearance since declaring for Tunisia. So let us talk about the first African player to be signed for United: Quinton Fortune.
The South African midfielder/full-back/utility man spent seven years at the club after joining from Atletico Madrid in August 1999, racking up 126 appearances. In another quirk of fate, while Fortune did feature in three title-winning seasons, he never made the 10 appearances necessary in any one campaign to receive a winner’s medal, only receiving an accolade in 2003 having been given special dispensation after nine appearances.
Fortune didn’t score many goals during his time at United, with only 11 strikes to his name, but one goal in particular has special meaning
“Boxing Day of his first season,” says Talk of the Devils host Ian Irving “He’d arranged for his family to come over for Christmas and they ended watching him play live in Europe for the very first time at Old Trafford. It was his Dad’s dream. Not only that, he scored too.”
Fortune does have a runner-up medal from the 1998 AFCON tournament as well, and now spends his time as a first-team coach at Reading.
Carl Anka
Newcastle United — Cheick Tiote (Ivory Coast)
Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse are among those who deserve honourable mentions — both were excellent forwards and cult heroes in their own right — but there is an enduring affection for the tough-tackling, ever-smiling Tiote that will not dissipate.
Advertisement
Between 2010 and 2017, Tiote made 156 appearances for Newcastle, including starring during the fifth-placed season of 2011-12, when he formed one of the most complete midfield partnerships in the Premier League alongside Yohan Cabaye.
At his best, Tiote performed the rudimentary tasks of a defensive midfielder expertly; harrying the opposition, winning back possession and moving it on to his more gifted team-mates. Once Cabaye departed, Tiote was never quite as effective, often attempting to overplay, but his commitment and fondness for a firm challenge continued to endear him to supporters.
“He trained as he played,” Mike Williamson, the defender says, and countless former team-mates talk about being on the receiving end of a “Cheicky cruncher” during midweek sessions. “We’d all try to avoid him,” Williamson says.
Of course, Tiote is also best remembered for one of the most iconic goals in Newcastle’s recent history — his only for the club. The Ivorian’s magnificent, dipping, 30-yard, left-footed volley against Arsenal in February 2011 completed one of the greatest ever Premier League comebacks, as Newcastle fought from 4-0 down to secure a 4-4 draw.
When Tiote collapsed on the training field in China in June 2017 and died, aged 30, his passing was mourned by Newcastle fans, who will always fondly remember his contribution to the club — as well as that cheeky grin that always preceded a thunderous tackle.
Chris Waugh
Norwich City — Sebastien Bassong (Cameroon)
It is a stretch to say Norwich City have much meaningful history with the Africa Cup of Nations, or indeed Africa. Just 15 players in 119 years could have represented an Africa country, including short stints from the likes of Elvis Hammond, Joseph Yobo, Omar Koroma and Kei Kamara.
But there are two we could bestow with the cult side of icon status.
Advertisement
Moroccan international Youssef Safri spent January 2006 away from Norwich for the tournament, in the middle of his three years with the club.
His time in yellow saw a stunning Premier League goal in victory at home to Newcastle and a string of high-energy performances that supporters loved. Safri also got punched at Colney by Leon McKenzie after winding up the forward once too often.
Despite Norwich’s subsequent relegation and failed attempts at returning from the Championship, Safri remained popular; a man always “Moroccan all over the world”. His departure for Southampton after 92 appearances proved another small step towards League One.
Still, Safri’s time at Norwich was positively mediocre compared to that of Cameroon defender Sebastien Bassong.
It’s worth remembering his five seasons with Norwich from 2012 included three in the Premier League.
His influence in leading Norwich to 2015 Championship play-off final success at Wembley was remarkable given he had already earned a promotion medal for his early-season loan at Watford, who finished second. A falling out with then-manager Neil Adams prompted the loan move.
Bassong rarely had the full trust of Norwich supporters through his 135 appearances but the man himself knew that; even embraced it. He liked showing the crowd that he knew what he was doing, even when they feared otherwise.
The centre-back’s final appearance came in Alex Neil’s final game as manager, before being sacked after a 1-1 draw at Bristol City in March 2017. Bassong’s contract expired that summer, restricting his goodbye to a social media note and an impromptu, gushing speech he imposed on those convened at Norwich’s end of season dinner.
Almost a decade on from his arrival, you imagine time would earn him a much warmer reception now.
Michael Bailey
Advertisement
Southampton — Radhi Jaidi (Tunisia)
Southampton’s finest ever African player, obviously, is Sadio Mane. The Senegal winger, now at Liverpool, scored 21 Premier League goals and registered nine assists on the south coast before being part of the exodus to Merseyside that felt like every other outgoing transfer at the time.
A nod, too, must go to Kenya’s Victor Wanyama, a colossus in central midfield, while Morocco’s Hassan Kachloul was an underrated box to box player whose relationship with the club soured due to a contract issue but who scored twice in the last ever competitive match at the Dell — a 3-2 win over Arsenal that would ultimately be his last appearance for the club.
Our AFCON legend, though, is Tunisia’s Radhi Jaidi. In the summer before moving to England to play for Bolton Wanderers, Jaidi was part of the Tunisia squad who won AFCON in 2004, and he captained his country in the tournament four years later.
At Saints, he was part of the side who won the Football League Trophy in 2010, the club’s first silverware since 1976. He was part of back-to-back promotion squads in 2011 and 2012, although he didn’t feature in the latter season due to terrible injury issues.
But it’s largely what Jaidi did after hanging up his boots that qualifies him. Initailly a club international ambassador, and then a hugely successful under-21s coach and under-23s manager, the Tunisian defender was an integral part of the club’s famed production line before moving to work with Amercian partner club Hartford Athletic.
Part of the club’s fabric for 10 years, Jaidi is an AFCON winner and Southampton’s African icon.
Alex Stewart
Tottenham Hotspur — Benoit Assou-Ekotto (Cameroon)
A nod here first of all for Wanyama, who after joining Spurs from Southampton in the summer of 2016 became an important part of Mauricio Pochettino’s side that was for a time the most feared in England and reached the Champions League final.
Advertisement
Based partly on his greater longevity though, the Cameroonian defender Benoit Assou-Ekotto edges out Wanyama. Because of his outspoken personality, which included giving a newspaper interview that was headlined, “I play for the money. Football’s not my passion”, it’s easy to forget how good a left-back Assou-Ekotto was for Spurs.
Signed by Martin Jol in the summer of 2006, Assou-Ekotto steadily improved and after an injury-hit couple of years started to excel under Harry Redknapp in the 2008-09 season. In the March of the campaign, Assou-Ekotto played brilliantly to largely keep Cristiano Ronaldo quiet in the League Cup final that finished 0-0 (Spurs then lost on penalties).
The following season Assou-Ekotto scored a spectacular goal on the opening weekend against Liverpool and played an important part in helping Spurs qualify for the Champions League. During the 2009-10 campaign he was also an unwitting contributor to a crucial part of Spurs’ recent history, as it was his injury midway through the season that opened the door for a hitherto peripheral Gareth Bale to come into the team as his replacement at left-back.
When Assou-Ekotto returned, Bale moved up into midfield and the pair formed a very effective partnership down that flank as Spurs reached the Champions League quarter-final the following season.
Assou-Ekotto continued to be a reliable performer for Spurs for the next couple of seasons, until he was loaned to Queens Park Rangers and was then deemed surplus to requirements by Mauricio Pochettino.
He bowed out in typically eye-catching style with an Instagram post of an image of Mel Gibson playing William Wallace in the film Braveheart captioned “Freedom!” upon Spurs cancelling his contract in February 2015.
With more than 200 Spurs appearances to his name and having played an important part in the team’s two top-four finishes between 2010 and 2012, Assou-Ekotto is fondly remembered at Tottenham.
Charlie Eccleshare
Watford — Ismaila Sarr (Senegal)
Watford have had a host of African heroes down the years, from Odion Ighalo (the Nigerian scored 39 goals in 99 appearances for the club) to Nicolas Nkoulou (who scored in the 2017 final and won the tournament, but has so far only played three times for Watford), but the best of the bunch may just be one of Watford’s current crop.
Advertisement
Ismaila Sarr clearly has a claim to icon status, and has previous when it comes to making a splash at the AFCON, too. The 23-year-old has scored nine goals in 40 appearances for Senegal and played a key role in getting them to the previous final in 2019. Even Sadio Mane is a fan.
“I’m a bit jealous because I won’t see him in Liverpool,” Anfield star Mane told The Athletic in 2019, upon Sarr’s arrival at Vicarage Road. “He’s rapid. I think defenders will struggle.”
Sure enough, six months later it was Liverpool’s defenders who were struggling with Sarr, who scored twice in a memorable 3-0 win for the Hornets of Jurgen Klopp’s title-bound Reds. It was one of the few highlights of a season that would ultimately end in relegation.
With Watford once again battling the drop from the Premier League, Sarr will be a huge miss as he aims to go one better and win this year’s tournament alongside Mane.
Adam Leventhal
West Ham United — Fredi Kanoute (Mali)
Honourable mentions to Alex Song, Diafra Sakho, Alex Song and Guy Demel but only one name comes to mind for the crown of West Ham’s African icon: Frederic Kanoute
Kanoute was born in France but was eligible to represent Mali via his parents. The ex-Lyon forward won 38 caps and scored 23 goals. He was joint top scorer for the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations with four goals. Kanoute played an important role in Mali reaching the semi-finals, where they lost to Morocco.
The 42-year-old was named the 2007 African Footballer of the Year and three years later announced his retirement from international duty, following Mali’s exit from the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations.
He was also hugely important for West Ham having scored 33 goals in 92 appearances during his three-year spell from 2000-03. Kanoute would later play for London rivals Tottenham Hotspur and Sevilla. But he will always be fondly remembered in east London for being a focal point up front under Harry Redknapp and the late Glenn Roeder.
Advertisement
Roshane Thomas
Wolverhampton Wanderers — Carl Ikeme (Nigeria)
When Carl Ikeme was on loan at Doncaster Rovers in 2012 (the eighth loan of his career), if you’d told him in three years time he’d be not only Wolves’ No 1 keeper, but Nigeria’s as well, he’d have called you bonkers.
Ikeme’s Nigeria story is a bit of a fairytale. He was born in England (Sutton Coldfield to be precise) and has a deep Brummie accent but had always embraced his Nigerian heritage (via his father) and when the unlikely call came in 2015 he called it a dream come true. Well, after the initial classic footballer anecdote of believing the call was a wind up.
Nigeria had wondered for a while how legendary keeper Vincent Enyeama would be replaced when he retired. No one would have guessed it would be Ikeme to take the baton, but after a fine performance on his debut against Tanzania he quickly won the hearts of a football-mad nation.
“It is true that we did not win the match, but we gain a son,” Nkwankwo Kanu said of Ikeme after the 0-0 draw. Jay-Jay Okacha proclaimed Ikeme as Enyeama’s heir.
Ikeme, aged 30 and now also established as Wolves’ No 1 in the Championship, was at the peak of his career. Tragically, in the summer of 2017, a diagnosis of acute leukaemia cut it short in his prime.
In total Ikeme played 10 times for Nigeria, he kept seven clean sheets and his absence at the 2018 World Cup was boss Gernot Rohr’s biggest regret. He named Ikeme as the squad’s 24th man.
Wolves have had a number of African heroes in the past decade or so, like Bakary Sako (Mali), George Elokobi (Cameroon) or Mo Camara (Guinea) but no story is as unlikely or poignant as Ikeme’s.
Tim Spiers