Top 5 Premier League Teams With Most African Players

For a good number of years now, African players have represented the motherland in English football and demonstrated to the outside world the immense talent in Africa.

This year was no different when the English Premier League returned, as African players netted nine of the 30 goals recorded on the opening weekend of the season in August 2015.

More players from the continent have joined the prestigious league, following the busy transfer window that just closed on Tuesday September 1.

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Senegal tops other African nations in terms of exported talent in the game according to this list, followed closely by DRC.

Also, the forte for most African players it seems, lies in the midfield.

Here are EPL clubs with a high number of African players and their playing positions. Manchester United and Arsenal FC, which have a big fan base in the continent, currently have no African players.

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1. Crystal Palace FC

Manager Alan Pardew once caught a lot of flack for signing “too many African players” when he was at Newcastle. His defense was that the English players were highly priced.

The team currently has five African players:

-Midfielder Yannick Bolasie -DR Congo

-Midfielder Bakary Sako - Mali

-Defender Pape Souare - Senegal

-Forward Marouane Chamakh - Morocco

-Forward Kwesi Appiah - Ghana

2. Chelsea

Many EPL African fans associate Chelsea with Ivorian Didier Drogba currently based in Canada. The team take second spot in this list, just like West Ham, as both teams have four African players:

-Midfielder John Obi Mikel - Nigeria

-Midfielder Bertrand Traore - Burkina Faso

-Defender Baba Rahman - Ghana

-Centre back and defensive midfielder Papy Djilobodji - Senegal

West Ham United FC

-Midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate - Senegal

-Forward Diafra Sakho - Senegal

-Forward Victor Moses - Nigeria

-Midfielder Alex Song - Cameroon

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3. Newcastle United

Newcastle has had an affinity for African players since signing Nigeria’s Celestine Babayaro in 2005 from Chelsea.

It shares third postion here with EPL teams like Norwich, Watford and Bournemouth, which all have three African players:

-Forward Papiss Cisse - Senegal

-Midfielder Cheick Tiote - Ivory Coast

-Defender Chancel Mbemba Mangulu - DR Congo

Norwich City FC:

-Defender Sebastien Bassong - Cameroon

-Midfielder Youssouf Mulumbu - DR Congo

-Forward Dieumerci Mbokani - DR Congo

Watford FC:

-Midfielder Adlene Guedioura – Algeria

-Defender Allan Nyom – Cameroon

-Forward Odion Ighalo - Nigeria

AFC Bournemouth:

-Winger and midfielder Christian Atsu Twasam - Ghana

-Forward Tokelo Rantie - South Africa

-Midfielder Max Gradel - Ivory Coast