African Stars Rising: Replacing Salah in the Premier League
Six years ago Liverpool strode into a new Premier League season as reigning champions, powered by Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, two African forwards who turned Anfield into a weekly festival. Mane left in 2022. Now the “Egyptian King” has gone too, swapping Merseyside for Trabzonspor and closing one of the great individual chapters in English football.
He leaves numbers that barely look real: 308 Premier League games for Liverpool, 191 goals, 93 assists. At 34, he walks away as the fourth-highest scorer in the competition’s history. Replacing that? Almost impossible. But the race to become Africa’s next Premier League standard-bearer is already on.
Semenyo: From rejection to £65m responsibility
The leading contender has taken the scenic route. Antoine Semenyo was turned away by Arsenal, Tottenham and Crystal Palace as a teenager, told he wasn’t quite what they were looking for. His Premier League debut didn’t arrive until February 2023.
Three years later, Manchester City decided his relentlessness, physical power and ruthless finishing were worth £65m.
The Ghana forward, a committed Christian, heads into this season with his faith and his form aligned. He hit 17 league goals last term – his best return yet – even if that still left him well short of Erling Haaland and Brentford’s Igor Thiago in the scoring charts.
But his curve is pointed in only one direction. If the improvement continues at this rate, City and Ghana fans won’t just be hoping he can match Salah’s numbers; they’ll be expecting him to crash the conversation about the biggest names in world football.
Marmoush: The heir in Haaland’s shadow?
If there is to be another “Egyptian King”, Omar Marmoush is the obvious candidate. On paper, at least.
In reality, his reign has been blocked by a Norwegian giant. Since arriving from Frankfurt, Marmoush has started just 22 Premier League games in a season and a half at City and scored only three league goals in 2025-26. Haaland’s presence has turned him from Pharaoh-in-waiting into an understudy.
Pre-season hinted at something more. Marmoush struck twice against Atletico Madrid, seizing a chance to impress new head coach Enzo Maresca and remind everyone there is a serious player behind the limited minutes.
His real opportunity, though, may lie away from the Etihad. Tottenham are in talks to sign him, and a move to north London could finally give him the stage – and the minutes – to show whether the crown can pass from one Egyptian to another.
Mbeumo and Sarr: A new double act in the making?
Bryan Mbeumo no longer needs an introduction. The Cameroonian arrived at Manchester United on the back of 27 goal involvements in his final Premier League season with Brentford, earning a £65m move and a reputation as one of the division’s sharpest forwards.
His first year at Old Trafford brought 14 goal involvements – not explosive, but respectable – and the story changed after the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations. Freed from international duty and benefiting from Michael Carrick’s growing influence, Mbeumo finished the campaign strongly as United rediscovered some of their old swagger.
He missed the World Cup. That might be a blessing. A rare summer off could let him hit the new season at full speed.
Ismaila Sarr might yet join him. United have been linked with the Senegal forward, and the logic is obvious.
Sarr arrives on the back of a World Cup that put him in elite company, matching Roger Milla’s African record of four goals at a single tournament. For Crystal Palace he was just as devastating, scoring a career-best 21 goals in all competitions and driving the Eagles to Uefa Conference League glory.
A Sarr–Mbeumo axis at Old Trafford? For African fans, that would be must-watch television.
Kudus and Ndiaye: Talent that needs the right stage
While Sarr was lighting up the World Cup, Mohammed Kudus could only watch. A long-term hamstring injury kept the Ghana playmaker out of the tournament and stalled his momentum at precisely the wrong time.
Now 26, Kudus is aiming for a clean bill of health and a central role in Roberto De Zerbi’s Tottenham rebuild. The talent is not in question: he has the tricks, the imagination, the ability to embarrass defenders. The issue has been doing it every week.
If De Zerbi can turn Kudus from highlight-reel player into 38-game force, Tottenham might have one of the league’s most dangerous creators on their hands.
Then there is Iliman Ndiaye, the Everton forward who might be the purest entertainer in this conversation. Only City’s Jeremy Doku completed more dribbles in the Premier League last season. When he runs, defenders backpedal and crowds rise.
His form has not gone unnoticed. After a second World Cup appearance, Saudi giants Al-Hilal have shown interest, while Manchester United and Arsenal have also been linked. The question hangs in the air: give “Skilliman” a Champions League platform and what happens? Do those twinkling feet finally turn tricks into trophies?
Wissa and Fredrick: Different roles, same ambition
At Newcastle United, Yoane Wissa’s season only really started halfway through. A knee injury wiped out the first half of his campaign and ruled him out of Afcon, a double blow for the DR Congo forward.
He responded at the World Cup, scoring three times for his country and reminding everyone of his penalty-box instincts. Newcastle, in a period of recalibration, will lean heavily on him as they try to build again.
And maybe the next African king of the Premier League won’t be a forward at all.
Brentford’s Benjamin Fredrick has just signed a four-year deal and been promoted to the first-team squad. At 21, he represents something rare: a player signed directly from Nigeria into a Premier League club, without the usual stepping stones.
He impressed on loan in Belgium last season and was set to start at centre-back for the Super Eagles at Afcon before a knee injury on the eve of the tournament wrecked that plan. Brentford boss Keith Andrews sees “a lot of potential” in him. If that potential is realised, the Premier League may have a new African defensive leader, not just another attacking idol.
New faces, familiar echoes of Salah
Salah’s own Premier League story began quietly. When Chelsea picked him up from Basel in 2014, few outside scouting circles knew his name.
Zadok Yohanna arrives in similar shadows. Brighton paid £21.5m for the Nigerian wideman in June, a left-footed right-sided attacker whose profile instantly invites comparisons with Salah. He is quick, direct and still largely unknown to the wider public. For now.
Newcastle’s £43m signing Bazoumana Traore offers a mirror image on the opposite flank. The Ivorian has already been drawing praise for his pre-season performances, hinting that he might be ready to explode once the real games begin.
Further down the food chain, Coventry City have made a bold play of their own. Caleb Yirenkyi, just 20, earned a club-record £23m move after a breakout World Cup with Ghana, capped by a late winner against Panama that pushed him into wider consciousness. The Sky Blues see him as a midfielder to build around, not just a prospect to polish.
The next giant: already here, or still to come?
Perhaps the true successor is not in the league yet.
Manchester City are in negotiations with Lille for Ayyoub Bouaddi, the Morocco midfielder who oozed composure in the Atlas Lions’ World Cup opener against Brazil at just 18. His touch, his calm, his confidence – they all screamed long-term star.
And then there is the name that has hovered over the Premier League for years without ever landing: Victor Osimhen.
The 27-year-old Nigeria striker, adored at home and feared across Europe, scored 29 goals in all competitions last season. His move has been “imminent” so often it has become a running joke, yet the links refuse to die.
With Salah now in Turkey, the stage feels strangely incomplete for African supporters. If Osimhen finally swaps Galatasaray for England, the gap would not be fully closed – Salah’s legacy is too heavy for that – but the league would gain another African superstar to carry the torch into a new era.
