African players should regain their mark in English football

FOR those millions of fans, the world over, who are die-hard followers of the beautiful game in its most competitive and lucrative global manifestation in the English Premier League (EPL), this weekend marked a welcome return to a weekly routine for the next 10 months.

- MUSHTAK PARKER

Never mind the individual mega clubs like Man United, Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham, with their private equity, sports management company and oil-and-gas rich Gulf royal family owners, the EPL brand is even more beguiling with its literally billions of viewing fans which would make Brand South Africa blush with embarrassment because of its resource inadequacies and parochialism.

That the EPL and the English game has a unique pull factor that is the envy of European rivals such as La Liga, Serie A, Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga is not in doubt. More importantly it has an aspirational attraction which is fuelling a unique talent import potential which not even the stringent UK Home Office immigration rules can stem.

In fact, one of the rising beneficiaries of this sports import regime is continental Africa, from which over 50 players will be playing in the EPL this season. Liverpool legend Egyptian Mo Salah has been dazzling opponents and football fans alike for the last few seasons and is currently the reigning EPL ‘Player of the Season’ for 2024/25 and will no doubt vie for winning a fifth ‘Golden Boot’ award in the coming season alongside his new teammates which include Hugo Ekitike, the French Cameroonian, and most likely Alexander Isak, the aberrant and accomplished Eritrean forward who played a major role in Newcastle winning a Champions League spot this year, who is poised to warm the sinews of the Kop faithful should the transfer go through.