5 African Strikers That Burst Onto The European Soccer Scene This Year
They are young, ambitious, and cannot be stopped. This season has been one to remember for African strikers across Europe, and today Africans in Sports brings you five under the radar players who burst into the scene in 2020-21. They are fan idols, they have taken their respective leagues by storm, and now they are setting themselves up for a hot transfer window summer.
Paul Onuachu
Towering at 6’7″ (200.66cm), the Nigeria international has quite literally been the pillar upon which Belgian side Genk built their offense this season. The Smurfs snatched the Belgian Cup and came agonizingly close to winning the Belgian League, finishing equal on points with eventual winners Club Brugge.
Onuachu scored 29 league goals in 33 regular season appearances, as well as four goals in five playoff games. These monster numbers rendered him the highest scoring African in Europe’s top 10 leagues. In addition to earning Top Scorer honors, Onuachu also received the Belgian Professional Footballer of the Year award. He is also the frontrunner for the much coveted Ebony Shoe, which is given annually to the best African player in the Belgian Pro League.
Coming up with Danish side Midtjylland, where he won two league titles and a Danish cup trophy, Onuachu owed his transition to Europe to a scholarship program between his boyhood club Ebedei and the Danish champions.
He made his first major tournament appearance with the Nigerian NT in the 2019 AFCON. Onuachu had scored the fastest goal in Super Eagles’ history in a friendly against Egypt earlier in the year, giving Nigeria their first win over the AFCON record champions in 29 years. The 26-year-old has been linked to a potential move in the Premier League, Bundesliga, and La Liga in the summer.
Patson Daka
With 27 goals in 28 league appearances for Red Bull Salzburg, it comes as no surprise that the Zambia international scooped both the Austrian Bundesliga Top Scorer and Player of the Year awards.
After a good start of the season, Daka sustained a hamstring injury in the fall which sidelined him for a month. He came back and did not miss a beat, scoring in 12 of his next 14 games. The marksman registered two hat tricks, against Sturm Graz and Rapid Vienna respectively. Unfortunately, his injury forced him to miss RB Salzburg’s fixtures against Bayern Munich in the Champions League group stage.
The son of a former footballer, Nathtali, who played as a winger for the local side Nitrogen Stars during the 1990s, Daka started playing as a teenager in Zambia, attending his first tryouts while still having to take exams at school. He garnered a lot of attention with Zambia’s youth chain, where he was a perennial tournament winner and top scorer. He also led Salzburg to UEFA Youth League glory with goals in the semi-final and final stages.
A Salzburg fan favorite and home country hero, Daka is heavily rumoured to be a Liverpool top target, with other Premier League clubs thrown in the mix. He is under contract for three more years, and this was his fourth season in Salzburg. He got his first taste of senior soccer during a loan spell at Austrian club Liefering. At only 22 years of age, we are barely starting to tap into his potential.
Aaron Boupendza
The Gabon international finished the year as the top scorer of the Turkish Süper Lig with 22 goals in 36 appearances for Hatayspor. Particularly impressive was his team’s 6-0 road win against Antalyaspor in December 2020, where Boupendza scored four goals, including a first-half hat trick in 13 minutes.
Primarily deployed at left-wing, Boupendza is no stranger to the center forward position, and he can cause damage both as a starter and as a powersub. He is renowned for his physical dominance, close control on the ball, and aggressive pressure off of it. His signature celebration is a cartwheel followed by a backflip.
After winning the Gabonese league with his youth club Mounana in 2016, Boupendza made the big step to Bordeaux. He struggled to find minutes in the first team, however. Following four loan spells in three years, he finally found a stable home last summer in Turkish side Hatayspor. Boupendza’s last endeavor prior to parting ways with Les Girondines was an unimpressive spell at Portuguese side Feirense.
In Turkey, he seems to have found his rhythm and confidence, which have allowed him to blossom into an efficient and composed striker. Boupendza has one more year under contract with Hatayspor, but Celtic, Rangers, Newcastle, and Atalanta have all been linked to the player in recent days. At only 24 years of age, he still has plenty of time to make a career for himself.
Simeon Nwankwo (Simy)
Newly-promoted Crotone may have unfortunately headed right back to Serie B. Still, the saving grace for the Italian minnows this year has undoubtedly been the second Nigerian on our list. With 20 goals and three assists while playing the full 38 match season, Simy has shown the nose for goal and durability that it takes to survive in the world’s toughest defensive league.
After losing the starting spot for a brief stretch around winter, Simy had a surge of 12 goals in nine games during the homestretch of the season. Though not enough to avoid relegation, the player’s initiative was rewarded with the captain’s armband during the last two matchdays.
The 29-year-old played in Portugal during the first half of his career, making a name for himself at Portimonense and Gil Vicente. After transferring to Crotone in 2016, he helped the Pythagoreans climb up the different levels of Italian football, culminating in this year’s Serie A appearance.
Though he has one more year under contract and feels a deep sense of gratitude to his current team, Simy has become the target of Lazio, Torino, and other heavyweights in Italy. At his age, this may be the long-awaited golden ticket.
Youssef En-Nesyri
The Morocco international had a career year with 18 goals in a full La Liga season. However, his European exploits were even more impressive – six goals in eight games, including a brace away at Borussia Dortmund in the Round of 16.
En-Nesyri came to Sevilla from Leganés, where he was Player of the Year in 2018-19. Despite a pandemic-influenced first season, he finished it with a UEFA Europa League trophy. In January of this year, En-Nesyri registered back to back hat tricks against Sociedad and Cadiz respectively, earning him La Liga Player of the Month honors. This feat had last been achieved in the 1940s.
A product of the prestigious Mohammed VI Football Academy and Málaga CF youth system, he made his first senior appearance for Morocco a little after his 19th birthday. He has represented his country in two AFCONs and one World Cup, including goal scoring performances against Spain, Ivory Coast etc.
Primarily used as a main striker, En-Nesyri can also utilize his ball control and athleticism on the flank. Though several Premier League teams were rumoured to have expressed an interest, it seems that neither Sevilla nor the player is looking for a change at the present moment.