Should Mohamed Salah be considered as the greatest African player ever?

FOOTBALL NOW is a brand new present that brings to gentle a number of the international sport's greatest points, challenges, and debates.

With the Africa Cup of Nations up and operating that includes international superstars resembling Riyad Mahrez, Sadio Mane, and Edouard Mendy, it is a event that's positive to offer loads of thrills and spills in Cameroon. Nevertheless, there isn't a doubt about who's the headline act: Mohamed Salah.

Salah's spectacular statistics

Salah is at the moment on 16 objectives within the Premier League, 6 greater than his closest competitor, while solely Sebastian Haller and Robert Lewandowski have extra objectives within the Champions League. The Egyptian has 9 assists within the Premier League this season, sharing high spot with team-mate Trent Alexander-Arnold and, maybe most impressively, he has scored 20 or extra objectives within the final 5 seasons.

Salah is Liverpool's primary man, however his worth for his nation goes even deeper. Egyptian tv presenter Shima Saber advised Soccer Now, "He is positively a singular case. He is our boy. He makes an excellent function mannequin who has labored onerous in direction of his objectives. We're extraordinarily proud to have such a task mannequin. He's each younger boy's function mannequin."

AP Photo
Mohamed Salah celebrates after scoring for Liverpool towards Norwich Metropolis within the English Premier LeagueAP Picture

Ought to Mo Salah be thought of the best African footballer of all time? That query is being debated on this week's episode of Soccer Now within the run-up to the most important event on the continent.

Soccer in Africa

The game started in Africa within the late nineteenth century. Just below 100 years later, the Confederation of African Soccer, often known as CAF, was based by Sudan, Egypt, South Africa and Ethiopia. This noticed the inauguration of the African Cup of Nations event.

A 2011 Sportsmarkt survey confirmed that 72% of individuals from the continent had been excited by soccer. In response to David Goldblatt's The Age of Soccer: The World Recreation within the Twenty-first Century, 300 million folks often tuned in to the Premier League.

Themba Hadebe/Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
1000's of followers prove for the opening sport of the 2021 Africa Cup of NationsThemba Hadebe/Copyright 2022 The Related Press. All rights reserved.

Which gamers must be thought of as the best ever?

With regards to African gamers, Salah is in nice firm. Different notable candidates embody George Weah, who has been a excessive achiever on and off the pitch. Along with incomes the Ballon d'Or - he's now the president of Liberia. Roger Milla opened the world's eyes to the unimaginable expertise at Africa's disposal when the 38-year-old guided Cameroon to the final eight of the World Cup in 1990. Didier Drogba and Samuel Eto'o scored greater than 600 objectives between them and received a bunch of league titles in addition to Europe's greatest competitors, the Champions League.

South African broadcaster Fiso Mazibuko imagine Samuel Eto'o has a declare of his personal to be Africa's biggest footballer. He advised Soccer Now, "In my period, rising up watching soccer, I do not assume there is a participant that epitomised African excellence on a soccer subject like Samuel Eto'o. He is the present highest scorer within the Africa Cup of Nations historical past. He is additionally received it twice, so that is somebody who's executed it on the worldwide stage and somebody who's executed it on the membership stage too."

Manu Fernandez/AP2005
Samuel Eto'o (proper of body), pictured alongside Ronaldinho and Lionel Messi, is Cameroon's highest ever goalscorerManu Fernandez/AP2005

In distinction, former Premier League defender Chris Samba believes Mohamed Salah earned his place within the debate for the very best African participant of all time however feels that at 29 years previous it is just too early to name. "He is in his prime now, however I feel we now have to evaluate it on the finish of his profession. After all, I feel he'll be up there, however there's nonetheless time for him so as to add so many trophies and so many different accolades to his title."

Mohamed Salah will, after all, have one other alternative within the subsequent few weeks so as to add one other trophy to his assortment together with his Egyptian facet on the lookout for silverware in Cameroon. And, with it being a World Cup 12 months, maybe 2022 actually would be the 12 months the place the Liverpool ahead makes a large stride in direction of being established as Africa's biggest footballer of all time.

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