In the most recognized league in Europe, the England Premier League, there are about 41 African players with Watford, Leicester, and Crystal Palace having the most numbers of them. Only Newcastle, Norwich, Leeds United, and Tottenham have no African representatives in their squad depth.
The best player currently in the league arguably is Mohammed Salah of Egypt and Liverpool. The Liverpool talisman has scored the most and assisted the most in the league this season.
In the French Ligue1, there are more than 58 African players who play in almost all the Ligue1 clubs. Metz has the largest number of Africans on their squad sheet, with 7 of them in the Club. Saint Étienne and Nantes both have 5 of them each.
Moroccan Captain, Achraf Hakimi of PSG being the most recognized Africa plays as a right-back for the league leaders PSG.
The German Bundesliga has the least African players in the league, with only twelve of them representing their countries in the just concluded AFCON 2021 in Cameroon.
Here are African players who are Captain of the club they represent in Europe’s top5 league, as compiled by Sportjuice9ja.
Hamari Traoré (Stade Rennais)
The Malian who currently plays as a center back for Stade Rennais is the club’s official captain. Traore joined Stade Rennais from the neighboring club Stade Reims in 2017. He has since then built himself to a level of leadership. The 32-year-old can also play as a right-back and has severally played at the left-back and right midfield.
He will surely be regarded as one of the club’s greatest with 196 league appearances and guiding his club to the 2018-19 Coupe de France trophy.
He also captains the Mali national team and has represented his country 30 times officially.
Wahbi Khazri (Saint Etienne)
The most successful club in French Ligue 1 has its Captain as African. Wahbi is a Tunisian striker who plays with Saint Ettiene for 5 years now. He had a poor spell with Sunderland in England and was loaned to Saint Ettiene, where he had scored eleven goals in his first season trance. Saint Ettiene permanent his deal and he has since then made 95 league appearances with 32 league goals.
Khazri is also the captain of the Tunisia national team; he has played over 60 matches and scored 24 goals for the side since 2013, and represented Tunisia at five Africa Cups of Nations tournaments and the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Ismael Traore (SCO Angers)
Traore who currently is having his stint with Angers captains the French club. He joined Anger from Brest in 2015 and has been a loyal player. The 35-year-old defender is also captain of the Ivorian national team but has had a few appearances with the Ivorian team. He has only appeared 12 times for the Elephants, 2019 being the year he had the most caps of 9.
With Anger, he has made 156 league appearances and has scored 10 times for the French side.
Djené Dakonam Ortega (Getafe)
Currently one of the longest-serving players in Getafe with 138 league appearances, Djene is a Togolese, and he plays with Getafe and Togo National team. He joined Getafe from a Dutch side in 2017 where he is currently captain.
The 30-year-old center back is Togo’s current captain, and he has had one of the most appearances of over 60 in Togo’s colors.
Pierre Aubameyang (Former Arsenal).
Although Pierre Aubayemang captained Arsenal at the beginning of this season, he was stripped of his captaincy by coach Mikel Arteta after the Gabonese was charged with irrational attitudes toward the club. His relationship with the club and Management has since then become cold. During the January transfer window transfer, he moved to Barcelona after contract termination by Arsenal on mutual grounds.
Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli)
Another name most will be out for in the list is Koulibaly of Napoli. Koulibaly is not the captain of Napoli, he is the third option to wear the captain hand band should Lorenzo Insigne who’s the official club captain not be available and Dries Mertens also absent.
