Top 10 African players performing ‘wonders’ in football

Recently, some African players have distinguished themselves among other players from different continents in the European competitions available for the season 2022/2023.

Their exploits have become really noticeable coupled with their breathtaking and dominating statistics.

Among those players are Nigeria’s forwards, Victor Osimhen and Ademola Lookman who are slugging it out in the Serie A and a host of others in other competitive leagues too.

In this report, The PUNCH summed up the top 10 African players currently performing incredibly well in Europe and beyond.

10. Mohammed Salah, Liverpool

Egyptian forward Salah remains one of the best African players currently. The Liverpool man has notched 17 goals in 31 matches in all competitions so far this season.

Although not in his best form, with the current dip of his club side, the 30-year-old has seven Premier League goals in 20 appearances so far this campaign, and Jurgen Klopp is looking up to the Egyptian as the Reds continue to struggle in the English topflight.

9. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, Bayern Munich

Cameroonian striker, Choupo-Moting may have been something of a peripheral figure at Bayern Munich last season, but he nonetheless ended the campaign as a Bundesliga champion, having made 20 appearances during the Bavarians’ run to the title.

Still, there were few clues that he would explode into life so dramatically this term, with the veteran — perhaps aiming to prove to the club that he deserves a new contract — demonstrating Ballon d’Or-worthy form during the build-up to the World Cup.

According to FootballNews, Choupo-Moting has enjoyed a level of goalscoring consistency we’ve not seen before in his career, with the 33-year-old contributing 11 goals during a sensational seven-game run from mid-October.

He played his part in victories over Barcelona and Internazionale, while both scoring and assisting in electric victories over Freiburg and Mainz 05.

8. Ibrahim Sangare, PSV Eindoven

Ivorian Midfielder Sangare was instrumental to PSV’s second place last season falling two points short in the title race to Ajax. Sangare was imperious, demonstrating, yet again, that the Dutch giants pulled off an absolute coup by snaring him from Toulouse.

This season, Sangare has scored five goals out of 25 appearances.

7. Paul Onuachu, Southampton

Another Nigerian striker who’s been in devastating goalscoring form in 2022/2023 is Nigerian striker, Onuachu, who has maintained his status as the most dangerous goal threat in Belgian football with another brilliant performance this calendar year.

Already in the Belgian league that he just left, he has 13 goals in 14 matches, as defences continue to struggle to contain the towering attacker.

This comes on the back of nine during the first half of the year, with a hat-trick against KAS Eupen in April as one particularly ferocious display of attacking intent.

Onuachu is currently in the English side, Southampton, after moving in the January transfer window for £15.8 million.

6. Thomas Partey, Arsenal

Ghanaian midfielder Partey has been instrumental to the recent success of Arsenal as the English Premier League table topper.

The 29-year-old has risen to the occasion after suffering an injury that kept him out of the in-form Gunners side.

According to Infogol, Partey averages 66 passes per match, with a pass completion rate of 87 per cent so far this season.

5. Riyard Mahrez, Manchester City

The Algerian forward Mahrez is already nominated for the PFA Fans Player of the Month for January Award.

Mahrez is currently in the form of his life.

He has already scored 10 goals in 27 matches in all competitions this season, including a stunner at Chelsea and then a brace in their 4-2 comeback win over Tottenham Hotspur.

Premier League statistics show that Mahrez’s nine shots in the box and five shots on target both rank among the top three players.

The 31-year-old has also made 15 key passes and created five big chances, suggesting he has an all-round potential to help City improve their recent performances

4. Achraf Hakimi, PSG

This season, the Moroccan right-back, Hakimi has averaged 48 passes per match with a pass completion rate of 90 per cent and has 3 assists.

Hakimi has received 4 yellow cards and 0 red cards in the course of the 2022/2023 season for Paris Saint-Germain.

He was a key member of the Atlas Lions of Morocco which reached the semi-final of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, and a stadium was renamed after him in his home country.

3. Wilfred Zaha, Crystal Palace

Ivorian forward, Zaha has scored 6 goals in 19 matches so far in the Premier League 2022/2023 season. 4 of the 6 goals were scored at home while he scored 2 goals at away games.

Overall, Wilfried Zaha’s goals scored per 90 minutes is 0.32.

Moreover, Zaha’s total goal contribution (goals + assists) is 8.

His goal involvement equates to 0.43 per 90 minutes and Non-Penalty goals per 90 minutes is 0.18. This puts Zaha’s output at 3.35 which puts him in the top 83 per cent of Premier League players.

He has taken 27 shots in 19 matches so far in the Premier League 2022/2023 season. Of the 27 shots, 17 shots were on target and the other 10 shots were off target.

According to Footystats, Zaha has assisted 2 goals in 19 matches so far in the Premier League 2022/2023 season.

2. Ademola Lookman, Atalanta

Nigerian forward, Lookman has assisted 3 goals in 20 matches so far in the Serie A 2022/2023 season.

Looking into his passing aspect of the game, Lookman passes the ball roughly 29.61 times during a game with a pass completion rate of 80.05%. He also plays 1.85 key passes each game which leads to significant scoring chances.

Overall, Lookman’s xA (Expected Assists) output is 0.24 per 90 minutes. This stat puts him above 87 per cent of the players in Serie A.

Ademola Lookman is a Forward who has appeared in 20 matches this season in Serie A, playing a total of 1220 minutes. Ademola Lookman scores an average of 0.89 goals for every 90 minutes that the player is on the pitch.

This attacking performance currently places him at 2nd out of 401 for Serie A Players who’ve played at least 3 matches.

This player scored a total of 12 goals so far in the season in the league, which places him at 1st in the Atalanta squad’s Top Scorers list.

Victor Osimhen, Napoli

Nigerian in-form striker, Osimhen has scored 16 goals in 17 matches so far in the Serie A 2022/2023 season. 9 of the 16 goals were scored at home while he scored 7 goals at away games.

Overall, Osimhen’s goals scored per 90 minutes is 1.02. Moreover, Osimhen’s total goal contribution (goals + assists) is 19. His goal involvement equates to 1.21 per 90 minutes. His Non-Penalty xG per 90 minutes is 0.70. This puts Osimhen’s npxG output at 11.02 which puts him in the top 99 percentile of Serie A players.

Osimhen has taken 52 shots in 17 matches so far in the Serie A 2022/2023 season. Of the 52 shots, 28 shots were on target and the other 24 shots were off target. That means that Osimhen’s shooting accuracy is 53.85 per cent.

He scores a goal for every 3.25 shots he takes and takes 3.32 shots per 90 minutes on the pitch.

He has appeared in 17 matches this season in Serie A, playing a total of 1411 minutes. Osimhen scores an average of 1.02 goals for every 90 minutes that the player is on the pitch.

This attacking performance currently places him at 1st out of 401 for Serie A Players who’ve played at least 3 matches.