Mohamed Salah or Didier Drogba? Emmanuel Adebayor picks between Chelsea and Liverpool icons as he chooses African PL GOAT 

Former Arsenal and Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor has picked Liverpool talisman Mohamed Salah as the greatest African player to ever grace the Premier League, ahead of Chelsea’s Didier Drogba and other African legends.

In a recent interview on Viaplay Premier Sunday, Adebayor ranked some of African Premier League icons. He praised former Liverpool winger Sadio Mane and former Chelsea defensive midfielder Michael Essien as legends.

He placed Riyad Mahrez and Austin Jay Jay Okocha in the ‘players that I can travel for 10 hours on a bus, on a train, on a plane to go watch because they got that thing in them, that flair.’ The former Togolese international also put himself in the same bracket (joy to watch) as Mahrez and Okocha.

He acknowledged Kolo Toure, John Obi Mikel, and Yaya Toure as ‘great.’ When Didier Drogba was mentioned, Adebayor first referred to the former Ivorian striker as ‘the GOAT,’ saying Drogba is his ‘Premier League GOAT African’ because Mohamed Salah wasn’t mentioned. He then noted Salah's incredible scoring rate in the Premier League, saying:

“188 goals up to date, and he's still going.”

Immediately, the interviewer gave him a ‘spoiler alert,’ telling him to choose between Drogba and Salah.

“For me, Mo Salah would have to be the goat,” Adebayor said.

While Drogba won more Premier League titles (4), compared to Salah’s two with Liverpool, the latter holds the record for the most goals by an African player in the English top flight. Salah also has the most goal involvements for a single club (277).

When Gabby Agbonlahor picked his African Premier League GOAT between Chelsea icon Didier Drogba and Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah

Didier Drogba etched his name into the history books at Chelsea. Across his two stints at the club, he scored 104 Premier League goals in 254 appearances, becoming the only African player to hit three figures for the west London side.

Mohamed Salah, on the other hand, has shattered numerous records in the English top flight in his over eight years at Liverpool. The 33-year-old is currently fourth in the all-time top scorers in the EPL.

Speaking to talkSPORT in 2021, Agbonlahor claimed that Salah was ‘better than Drogba,’ arguing that Salah plays a more important role for Liverpool than Drogba did for Chelsea. He said:

“I think the top two is Mo Salah - he’s been outstanding in the Premier League - his goals, his performances. And then Drogba, he’d probably be second. Yaya Toure was amazing, but I think Drogba, given his legendary status and what he did for Chelsea, he’d be in the top two.” “I think you’ve got to look at his goal record for all the games he’s played, Salah, he’s better than Drogba,” added the former Aston Villa captain. Everything goes through Salah, if you look at Liverpool now and you took Salah out of their team, I don’t think they’d finish in the top four, that’s how much of a difference he makes to their side. “When he doesn’t play, I don’t think Liverpool are the same side. Whereas Drogba, he still had a lot of goals coming from Lampard and other players in the team. If you look at Drogba’s goal record, it’s nowhere near what Salah’s is - and he’s playing as a winger, not a striker! So, I think Salah’s number one for me.”

On October 24, 2021, Salah became the top-scoring African player in Premier League history following his hat-trick after Liverpool’s 5-0 demolition of Manchester United at Old Trafford. The strikes saw him overtake Drogba’s 104 to 106, reaching the milestone in 62 fewer appearances.

Edited by Ezekiel Olamide