EPL: Yakubu Ayegbeni names greatest African player to play in Premier League

Former Everton striker, Yakubu Ayegbeni, has identified Chelsea legend, Didier Drogba, as the greatest African player to play in the English Premier League, EPL.

Ayegbeni believes Drogba played at a higher level than Liverpool ace, Mohamed Salah, who has enjoyed an impressive start to the current season, scoring 15 goals in 12 appearances for the Reds.

Salah recently overtook Drogba as the highest-scoring African player in Premier League history.

The Egyptian international surpassed the former Ivory Coast captain after scoring a hat-trick in Liverpool’s 5-0 victory against Manchester United last weekend.

Salah now has 107 goals in 167 Premier League games, while Drogba netted 104 goals during his time at Chelsea.

“You cannot say Salah is the greatest African to play in the Premier League. Drogba was something special because he was scoring for fun,” Ayegbeni told Goal.

“However, you have to give Salah credit for breaking the big legend’s record, which makes him one of the greatest Africans in the English top-flight, but for now, he is certainly not the greatest.”

Ayegbeni added: “All the same, we have to applaud the Egyptian for his fine form because it is not easy to play the way he is doing that right now – which is incredible.”

Meanwhile, Salah’s teammate, Sadio Mane, has 100 Premier League goals, former Arsenal and Manchester City star, Emmanuel Adebayor, has 97 goals and Yakubu has 95 goals.