3 Most Important EPL Players Going To The Africa Cup Of Nations

With certain exceptions, it’s always been seen and understood that for professional African football players, the biggest stage in which they can shine is the English Premier League.

For years now, African-born players have been pivotal pieces of some of the best teams in the EPL, raking up various sports betting news headlines because of their talent and skills.

For those same players, just as important as shining bright for their EPL teams is representing their home countries in Africa’s most important national team tournament, the Africa Cup of Nations.

While European football players have the EURO tournament and South American stars have the Copa América tournament, for African stars, there’s no bigger continental recognition than the AFCON.

Now that the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations is finally on track to happen, after being postponed twice because of different concerns met along the way with the structural organization in Cameroon, the host country, CAF officials are betting on the tournament to be a success, with Cameroon showing more and more signs of improvement and progress.

With this said, some of the EPL’s top African talents will be leaving their squads come December until early February to join their National teams in the hopes of obtaining the best results in the upcoming African tournament.

But which EPL stars will look to have the biggest impact once the tournament gets going? Let’s take a look.

After helping his national team, Egypt to secure a final spot in the last qualifying rounds for the Qatar 2022 World Cup Tournament, Liverpool and Egypt star Mohamed Salah will surely be looking for his massive amounts of talent and goal-scoring skills to help lift his national team into title contention status.

For Salah, this season has seen him revamp his status as one of the best strikers in all of world football, once again leading the EPL goal scoring table and helping his Liverpool squad stay very much alive in the EPL title race against rivals Chelsea, Manchester City, and a surprising West Ham United team.

Considered by Egypt’s team coaches as one of the humblest and professional players that any team can have, Salah will surely be the leader behind anything and everything that Egypt can aspire to achieve in the upcoming AFCON tournament.

Given Egypt’s great run in the last rounds of the Qatar 2022 qualifiers, with Salah being a very important piece in Egypt’s winning ways, it only makes sense that if Egypt continues in their path, Salah and his team will surely be one of the teams to beat come January 2022.

I think it’s safe to agree that Algeria is the best football team in Africa right now, right?

Given that they have cruised by their competition in the initial qualifying stages for Qatar 2022 and that they are the reining and defending AFCON Tournament champions, it’s kind of hard to deny the power that Algeria hosts over African football.

But, if we had to dissect all of Algeria’s successes and pinpoint one specific player that has become the leader of this great generation of Algerian footballers, it would be none other than Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez.

Mahrez, who first gain true international recognition while playing for that magical Leicester City squad that ended up winning the EPL title in the 2015-16 season, went on to become one of Manchester City’s most important pieces in an attacking core that already hoists players Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling and Ferran Torres. Mahrez’ skillset and leadership skills within the Algerian national team have made him the spearhead of his country’s aspirations to once again repeat as tournament champions, all while they await to continue in their ravishing path to Qatar 2022, where Algeria could very well end up surprising experts all around with their dominant football.

While everyone is focusing on the amazing feats that Mohamed Salah has been able to achieve for Liverpool since joining the team, it doesn’t take much to also recognize that Liverpool’s attack was ushered into a new era of excellence when Salah partnered up alongside Brazilian striker Roberto Firmino and Senegalese star Sadio Mané to become one of the most feared offensive tridents in European club football.

Mané, considered by many as one of the most effective forwards to ever come out of Africa, has been an essential part in Senegal’s rebirth as a football power in Africa.

His skills are as big as his kind and humane demeanor, making him one of the most feared and respected African football players and one of the main reasons why Senegal will surely be a team to keep an eye on once the continental tournament gets rolling in Cameroon early next year.