African stars in Europe’s biggest leagues had a particularly strong 2022, but there was one outstanding player from each major division over the last 12 months.
Premier League: Mohamed Salah
The English Premier League still boasts the greatest concentration of elite African talent — by some distance — of any of the world’s leagues, and the likes of Thomas Partey and Wilfried Zaha have each enjoyed excellent spells during the course of the year.
Sadio Mane was in sensational form during the first half of 2022, but after departing to the Bundesliga, he’s been overtaken by his former teammate Salah, who has begun to demonstrate once again the fearsome form that he showed during the latter part of 2021.
He’d registered a combined 13 goals and assists in the 13 matches preceding the World Cup, and returned in style with strikes against Manchester City in the League Cup and Aston Villa on Boxing Day to take him level with Liverpool great Kenny Dalglish for goals for the Reds.
Only four players – Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne, Harry Kane and Ivan Toney – have contributed more goals/assists than Salah so far this season, and even though he faced criticism for his form during the first half of the year, he nonetheless ended 21-22 with FA and League Cup winner’s medals.
Despite his critics, there were some magical performances during the first half of the year — the brace in the 4-0 demolition of Manchester United, another double in the 6-0 trouncing of Leeds United — while his sublime winner against Manchester City in October was a reminder that Salah remains a player with the quality to settle the biggest of matches.
It may have taken some time, but if Salah can continue to bounce back from failures in the Africa Cup of Nations, World Cup qualifying and the Champions League, and rediscover the same consistency he enjoyed in late 2021, it would rank among his greatest achievements.
Returning after a six-week break while many of his rivals battled it out in Qatar, you wouldn’t bet against a sustained spell of dominance from the Prem’s all-time top African goalscorer.
