The 2024/2025 season saw African players impressing across the Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A, and Ligue 1, with notable names like Serhou Guirassy, Victor Osimhen, and Mohamed Salah.
This guide ranks the top ten African soccer players in Europe, considering individual performances, trophies, and overall impact.
Who Are The Best African Players In Europe?
These are currently the top 10 best African football players in Europe:
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Rank | Player | Current Club (League) | Position | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Achraf Hakimi | Paris Saint-Germain (Ligue 1) | Right-back | Morocco |
2 | Serhou Guirassy | Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) | Striker | Guinea |
3 | Victor Osimhen | Galatasaray (Süper Lig) | Striker | Nigeria |
4 | Mohamed Salah | Liverpool (Premier League) | Winger/Forward | Egypt |
5 | Ademola Lookman | Atalanta (Serie A) | Winger/Forward | Nigeria |
6 | Nickolas Jackson | Chelsea (Premier League) | Striker | Senegal |
7 | Bryan Mbeumo | Manchester United (Premier League) | Forward | Cameroon |
8 | Tolu Arokodare | Genk (Belgian Pro League) | Striker | Nigeria |
9 | Rayen Cherki | Manchester City (Premier League) | Attacking Mid/Winger | Algeria |
10 | Iñaki Williams | Athletic Bilbao (La Liga) | Forward/Winger | Ghana |
Achraf Hakimi – Paris Saint-Germain (PSG)
Achraf Hakimi has established himself as one of the right-backs and best African footballers in Europe, playing an integral part in Paris Saint-Germain’s historic 2024/25 season.
The Moroccan full-back delivered on the biggest stages, scoring crucial goals that pushed PSG to success.
He netted in the Champions League semi-final against Arsenal, found the back of the net in the Coupe de France final, and most impressively, opened the scoring in PSG’s emphatic 5–0 Champions League final win over Inter Milan.
By doing so, Hakimi became the first Moroccan and seventh African ever to score in a European Cup or Champions League final.
His pace, defensive intelligence, and attacking threat make him indispensable for PSG, while his achievements have pushed him into Ballon d’Or conversations.
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Hakimi’s performances prove why he isn’t just one of Africa’s brightest talents, but also among Europe’s elite players.
Serhou Guirassy – Borussia Dortmund
Serhou Guirassy has quickly become one of Africa’s brightest football stars in Europe after his move to Borussia Dortmund in July 2024 for €18 million.
The Guinean striker has been sensational in both the Bundesliga and the Champions League, breaking records once reserved for legends like Robert Lewandowski and Erling Haaland.
In February 2025, he became the third Dortmund player ever to score ten goals in a single Champions League campaign.
He later made history with a hat-trick against Barcelona, finishing the season as joint-top scorer of the tournament with 13 goals, making him only the second African, after George Weah, to achieve this milestone.
His four-goal performance against Union Berlin and decisive brace at the FIFA Club World Cup further highlight his impact.
With his consistency, power, and historic records, Guirassy is one of the best African players in European football today.
Victor Osimhen – Galatasaray
Victor Osimhen is Africa’s most feared striker in Europe today.
When Galatasaray fans welcomed Victor Osimhen in September 2024, few imagined he would rewrite Turkish football history within a single season.
Following failed transfer moves to Al-Ahli and Chelsea in the summer of 2024, the Nigerian striker joined the Turkish giants on loan from Napoli.
He made an immediate impact, scoring braces in both the Süper Lig and Europa League, before netting his first career hat-trick in March 2025.
Osimhen went on to fire Galatasaray to a domestic double, finishing as Süper Lig top scorer with 26 goals and setting a new record of 35 goals in all competitions shattered Mario Jardel’s long-standing record for a foreign player in Turkey.
His overhead kick against Antalyaspor was crowned Goal of the Season. In July 2025, Galatasaray secured him permanently for €75 million, the highest transfer fee in Turkish football history.
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Mohamed Salah – Liverpool
When talking about the greatest African players in Europe right now, Mohamed Salah’s name stands at the very top.
The Liverpool forward has rewritten Premier League and Champions League history with record after record.
In 2024, he surpassed Didier Drogba to become the highest-scoring African in the Champions League, while also setting milestones as the first player in Premier League history to score and assist in 37 different matches.
By the end of the 2024/25 season, Salah had won the Golden Boot, Playmaker Award, and Premier League Player of the Season, all in the same campaign, a feat never achieved before.
He is now among the league’s all-time top five scorers, with over 187 goals, and holds the record as the highest-scoring foreign player in Premier League history.
Aside from goals, Salah’s creativity shines, leading in assists and big chances supplied.
Ademola Lookman – Atalanta
Ademola Lookman is one of Africa’s brightest stars in European football. Since joining Atalanta from RB Leipzig in 2022 for €15 million, the Nigerian forward has been a game-changer in Serie A and on the continental stage.
He was instrumental, scoring on his debut, but his true breakthrough came in 2023 with a run of back-to-back braces in both Serie A and the Coppa Italia.
Lookman’s biggest moment was in May 2024, when he netted a historic hat-trick in the Europa League final against Bayer Leverkusen, securing Atalanta’s first-ever European trophy and history as the first player since 1969 to score three in a major one-legged European final, which earned him a Ballon d’Or nomination.
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Nicolas Jackson – Bayern Munich (On Loan from Chelsea)
Nicolas Jackson’s rise at Chelsea proves why he is already among the finest African footballers lighting up Europe.
Signed from Villarreal in 2023 for £32 million, the Senegalese striker wasted no time making an impact in the Premier League.
From his debut against Liverpool to a memorable hat-trick against Tottenham and goals against Manchester City, Jackson showed he can deliver in the biggest games.
By the end of the 2023/24 season, he had scored 14 league goals, finishing just behind Mohamed Salah as the top African scorer in England.
His partnership with Cole Palmer also restored Chelsea’s long-lost attacking edge. In 2025, Jackson lifted the UEFA Conference League, scoring in the final against Real Betis.
However, he has left the Blues to join Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich on a season-long loan for the 2025/26 season in a deal that should result in a final move to the Bavarian giants at the end of the season.
Bryan Mbeumo – Manchester United
Bryan Mbeumo has quietly transformed into one of the Premier League’s most dangerous African forwards.
When Brentford lost Ivan Toney and Igor Thiago, Mbeumo stepped up as the club’s main attacking threat, forming a lethal partnership with Yoane Wissa.
His consistency in front of goal earned him multiple Premier League Player of the Month nominations in August, October, and January, while his October form even put him in the running for the PFA Fans’ Player of the Month award.
By the end of the 2024–25 campaign, Mbeumo had netted 20 league goals, outperforming his expected goals tally by a staggering +7.7, the highest overperformance in the division.
That remarkable performance caught Manchester United’s attention, leading to a £71 million move in July 2025.
Although his Red Devils debut ended in defeat to Arsenal, Mbeumo wasted little time getting on the scoresheet.
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Tolu Arokodare – Wolves
When Tolu Arokodare arrived at Genk on 31 January 2023, few could have predicted the immediate impact he would make.
The Nigerian striker hit the ground running, scoring on his debut as a substitute against Gent in a thrilling 3–2 away victory.
That season, he was instrumental in Genk’s title challenge, narrowly missing out on the league crown after a dramatic 94th-minute equalizer by Toby Alderweireld for Royal Antwerp denied them the top spot.
We saw Arokodare’s brilliance in the 2024-25 Belgian Pro League season, where he netted 20 goals, dominating the scoring charts for Genk.
His remarkable form earned him the prestigious Ebony Shoe, awarded to the best player of African descent in Belgium.
Despite Genk leading the league for much of the season, a late slump in the playoffs saw them slip from first to third, but Arokodare’s individual achievements remain undeniable. Meanwhile, he has made a move to join Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League for the 2025/26 season.
Rayen Cherki – Manchester City
Few young African stars have risen as quickly in Europe as Rayan Cherki, the French-born talent of Algerian descent.
Once tipped as Lyon’s future, Cherki proved his class in the 2024/25 season, topping Ligue 1’s assist charts with 11, earning a spot in the UNFP Team of the Year, and being crowned the league’s very first Dribbler of the Year.
We also saw that in Europe, where he led the UEFA Europa League in assists and was named Young Player of the Season.
That brilliance caught the eye of Manchester City, who secured him in June 2025 for €36.5m plus add-ons.
Already, he has made an instant impact, scoring in the FIFA Club World Cup, claiming City’s iconic No. 10 shirt after Jack Grealish’s exit, and marking his Premier League debut with a goal.
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Iñaki Williams – Athletic Bilbao
When you think of consistency, resilience, and history-making moments in Spanish football, Iñaki Williams instantly comes to mind.
The Ghanaian forward has become a symbol of Athletic Bilbao’s identity, breaking barriers and rewriting records along the way.
In 2015, he became the first black player ever to score for the Basque club, and since then, his legacy has only grown.
Williams set the La Liga record for consecutive appearances, 251 straight games over nearly seven years.
Aside from records, he’s delivered in big moments, from a stunning solo goal against Sevilla that won Marca’s Golden Goal award to lifting the 2021 Supercopa with a strike against Barcelona.
In 2024, he helped end Athletic’s 40-year Copa del Rey drought to remind us that he remains one of Africa’s finest talents in European football.
Kenneth is a an avid soccer follower, fan and writer. He is a consistent follower of the sport and is a fan of Chelsea FC.