'Salah not the greatest'- Yakubu names Chelsea icon as best African to grace Premier League

Retired Nigeria international Yakubu Aiyegbeni believes that Chelsea icon Didier Drogba is the best African player in history to grace the English Premier League.

Aiyegbeni is of the opinion  the Ivorian operated on a higher level than Mohamed Salah who has had a blistering start to the 2021-2022 campaign.

The Liverpool winger shattered Drogba's record as the highest scoring African player since the formation of the Premier League when he netted a hat-trick against Manchester United last weekend, taking his tally to 107 goals in 167 appearances.

Salah has scored three goals more than Drogba, while Sadio Mane (100), Emmanuel Adebayor (97) and Yakubu (95) complete the top five Africans.

"You cannot say Salah is the greatest African to play in the Premier League. Drogba was something special because he was scoring for fun," Ayegbeni told Goal.

"However, you have to give Salah the credit for breaking the big legend’s record, which makes him one of the greatest Africans in the English top-flight, but for now, he is certainly not the greatest."

Yakubu praised Salah for his brilliant form after the former AS Roma star scored in a record-extending ten Liverpool appearances in a row in the hammering of Manchester United.

"All the same, we have to applaud the Egyptian for his fine form because it is not easy to play the way he is doing that right now – which is incredible," added Yakubu.

Aiyegbeni scored his 95 Premier League goals for four different clubs namely Blackburn Rovers, Everton, Middlesbrough and Portsmouth.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel