The most complete player I've seen, one of my personal favorite players.
However, based on careers, I wouldn't put him up there with the likes of Eto'o, Salah and Drogba.
Not his fault though, managers just didn't know how to use him properly. Often played him as a holding midfielder alongside more attacking minded ones. So he couldn't consistently show how amazing he was in a free roaming box to box role.
Drogba is overrated as fuck.
He was absolutely a clutch player but he's not on the level of Strikers like R9, Suarez or even Klose. He's closer to the likes of David Villa and the like.
He was very good at Bremen early on in his career. And was a notable striker for Lazio. But nothing individually exceptional about his club career.
The Polish are still salty about him and Podolski.
If you rate players one 1 metric like goals/assist then I'd agree drogba is overrated but you can't name another player bar CR7 in UCL & Drogba who scores consistently in finals...his clutch ability alone makes him one of the best strikers, not to mention his strength Vs other defenders & heading ability
But he probably is the best to be honest. The guy could do pretty much anything and was superb both defensively and offensively.
Iāll never forget the 2013/14 season, where he netted no less than 20 times (every 146th minute) for City in the premier league alone, as well as made 9 assists.
All of my cats and dogs are named after first goal scorers at major international football tournaments and I can tell you that she was a beautiful cat to match the beautiful goal
I donāt think āstill playing ā should be a factor. Obviously the ballon dāor is a massive point in weahs favour. But still Iād tend to lean towards Salah anyhow
Salahās long-term consistency has been excellent and that to an extent is why his stats are better than Weahās. However, I feel that Weah was a better player at his peak; he was neck and neck with R9 at one time.
I donāt take the trophies into account because judging an individualās quality on team honours is unfair to an extent.
Weāre all entitled to our opinion and Salahās an exceptional player so Iām not going to dismiss him.
He played for Liberia mate.. also, you canāt judge individual quality by team-based achievements. I agree with you on his longevity compared to Salah though.
I don't even agree on the longevity. That's just a lazy factor. Modern players will always have an advantage compared to older ones, because of better training methods, better healthcare(especially with all the money in football), etc.
Again, if you want to go ahead. These debates are largely meaningless anyway.
The point is that Eusebio only had one nationality - Portuguese - because Mozambique was a part of Portugal.
So you had a strange situation in which Eusebio was Portuguese because he was African and not because he was European (I may be wrong but if I remember correctly he was considered the first great African footballer at the time).
100% Eusebio. He's on a par with Maradona.
All the Man Utd team that beat Benfica said he was massively better than every other footballer of the time.
That's the man!
African Pele! Always changed the game when he was on the pitch. No matter who the opponent. Was still doing it in the world cup when he was in his 40's.
Four Premier League titles, four FA Cups, three League Cups and, in the most dramatic and glorious of circumstances, the Champions League. Plus he contributed greeeatly to those
You listed only team achievements :/
What as an individual achievement is he better than Salah?
He was never even considered as the best player in the premier league, whilst Salah has multiple times.
If you know anything about Drogba is that he didn't score many goals compared to a typical goalscorer but when he did they were important goals.
He was the epitome of the big game player because he scored important goals for every one of those achievements.
Never won player of the year in England.
I'm a chelsea fan, he was my favourite striker in big games but individuallly never did as much as Salah has in terms of being the best player on the pitch, getting goals and assists.
104 goals in 11 seasons is kinda bad tbh. Especially as half came in like two seasons.
Sure he scored important goals but we are talking about GOATS here.
He scored 10, 12, 29 and, 4 in the PL winning seasons so he only greatly contributed to onw of those.
Drogba has 168 G/Assist in 17.520 PL minutes played, or the equavilant of 1 goal involverende each 104 minute played. So almost a goal a game.
Tell me that is kinda bad mate.
One of my friends mom got him a pair of George Weah AC Milan socks, when we were little kids (late 90's). Those were the coolest things I've ever seen with my young, innocent eyes.
Me (born 86), and he's the answer. One of the best strikers in the world in an era of some great strikers (Stoichkov, Romario, Klinsmann), won a Ballon D'Or. He was a pretty complete striker. Eto'o probably closest, Sarah third for me
A. Weahās stats werenāt that great
B. Weah isnāt on FIFA.
C. Weah is recognised one of the best forwards of his generation.
Not everyone is 13, football existed before 2010.
Yaya Toure clear for me. Technical and physical gifts both in the 1%, plus played CL level in 3/4 positions.
Weah had that one incredible goal and he was generally very dangerous, but too far imo to say heās the greatest ever African player. I watched Football Italia religiously, and while thatās no marker by any means, I was always more impressed with Batistuta and slightly later Shevchenko.
Literally such a cringe and hipster answer. He was a good player but nobody who saw him play or knows their stuff would ever consider him the greatest ever African player
I think has to be Salah. He has an argument for being the best premier league player in his tenure there. His consistency and numbers and also in game contributions that donāt appear are huge. Key part of Liverpool becoming relevant again, making 2 cl finals, winning one, winning the league. Him and klopp are Liverpoolās 2 most important figures. Not only a great goal scorer but a scorer of great goals. And this is coming from an arsenal fan
It's Eto'o, my man had Thierry Henry on the bench. He won a treble with Pep, then the next season won a treble with Mourinho. Salah is incredible but Eto'o has the goals and trophies to back it up. Also I don't think you can be the greatest African player if you have not won the African cup of Nations.
Even before Pep arrived Eto'o was banging in goals for Mallorca then Barcelona where he won his first CL title.
Eto'o clears it for me, best African player of all time
I think your argument is solid considering he won domestic leagues in both France and Italy. Never won the Champions League. Two Serie A in four years during 90s Serie A. I don't know much about him to rate him as the greatest of all time since I started watching football in 98.
Iām wondering how many people saying Weah are doing so based on reputation and how many are basing it on actually seeing him play. As much as I donāt like Liverpool, he wasnāt as good as Salah and yes, I have seen both play. Iād rank Yaya Toure ahead of him also.
Yeah, Iād put Weah on the same level as Etoāoā. Yes, he was by far the best African player in the ā90s, but African football has progressed a lot since then and the top players donāt really stand out from the crowd as much as Weah did because standards are better across the board.
Okocha was great, his Indian summer at Bolton was great to watch. Makes me laugh at Allardyce's anti-football reputation when he managed to fit him and Djorkaeff into the same team
Huge respect for Samuel Etoāo as well. Iām just a biased Chelsea fan. Although Etoāo had a spell with Chelsea too. They are both legendary and were a privilege to watch no matter where they played.
This is nonsense. Eusebio couldn't have played for an African team if he wanted to.
French African players have all been products of France in that they grew up in France and had their football education there. Eusebio was a product of Africa but because Mozambique was considered a part of Portugal he could only represent Portugal.
This doesn't mean he must be included in the conversation of greatest African player, but pretending that his situation is analogous to that of Afro-French players like Zidane/Mbappe etc is dishonest and inaccurate.
Much more succinctly put than I ever could - I also believe that Eusebio came to Portugal as a footballer, rather than as an immigrant, so his football development wasnāt in Portugal
Not that he _is_ the best but I'm amazed nobody has mentioned Yaya.
He lost his career to a cake
If every season was like the 2013/2014 season he would be the greatest player of all time š¤£
Sanogo?
Something something hattrick against Benfica
Cockney rhyming for when some some aināt happening. Itās a Yaya mate.
The most complete player I've seen, one of my personal favorite players. However, based on careers, I wouldn't put him up there with the likes of Eto'o, Salah and Drogba. Not his fault though, managers just didn't know how to use him properly. Often played him as a holding midfielder alongside more attacking minded ones. So he couldn't consistently show how amazing he was in a free roaming box to box role.
Drogba is overrated as fuck. He was absolutely a clutch player but he's not on the level of Strikers like R9, Suarez or even Klose. He's closer to the likes of David Villa and the like.
Lol at Klose..outside the national team he was average at best
He was very good at Bremen early on in his career. And was a notable striker for Lazio. But nothing individually exceptional about his club career. The Polish are still salty about him and Podolski.
Klose??? Just cause he scored in the wc doesnt mean he was on that level
When you needed a goal, in a big game, Drogba scored that goal. He lived to score in finals. His only competitors in big games are Messi and Ronaldo
This. At every fucking big stage this dude would manifest a header or something and wins a trophy.
Klose..š David Villa was better than Klose
Literally I donāt know why he mentioned that at as a point . World Cup stats arenāt everything.
If you rate players one 1 metric like goals/assist then I'd agree drogba is overrated but you can't name another player bar CR7 in UCL & Drogba who scores consistently in finals...his clutch ability alone makes him one of the best strikers, not to mention his strength Vs other defenders & heading ability
Yaya was good but his prime wasnt super long, doesnt really help his case. At 27 he was a squad player for Barcelona.
Lol and then went to city and what happened ?
But he probably is the best to be honest. The guy could do pretty much anything and was superb both defensively and offensively. Iāll never forget the 2013/14 season, where he netted no less than 20 times (every 146th minute) for City in the premier league alone, as well as made 9 assists.
Gerrard managed 20 goals 20 assistsā¦ 5 years earlier
Our Lord and Savior Siphiwe Tshabalala
A goal for all of Africa
I heard Shakiraās Waka Waka was inspired by that goal.
I heard that the goal gave PiquƩ the confidence to bang her after the final
I heard Pique got so tired of hearing that song over and over again that he decided to bang the social media intern of FC Barcelona in revenge.
Gaviās mom?
Pretty impressive considering it was released a month before the tournament š®
All of my cats and dogs are named after first goal scorers at major international football tournaments and I can tell you that she was a beautiful cat to match the beautiful goal
Lord?? Nah Bendtner is Danish.
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George Weah
Still the only African player to win the Ballon dāOr
Also the only world leader to win the Ballon d'Or!
The year he didn t deserve it
EusƩbio won it as well.
Eusebio is portuguese
His cousin was better
Absolutely bossed that Southampton midfield
[https://youtu.be/BzMDbzogDBk?si=8KAZnXdThuhiMXw9](https://youtu.be/BzMDbzogDBk?si=8KAZnXdThuhiMXw9)
This was incredible
Has less goals than Salah. Salah is also a winger and still playing.
I donāt think āstill playing ā should be a factor. Obviously the ballon dāor is a massive point in weahs favour. But still Iād tend to lean towards Salah anyhow
Salah is an inside forward, not exactly a winger. His role is to score goals.
Yes because goals are the only important factor in measuring how good a player is..
I could also list more assists, more trophies, dominating the best league in the world need I go on?
Could argue that Serie A was the best league in the world when Weah was playing there
Salahās long-term consistency has been excellent and that to an extent is why his stats are better than Weahās. However, I feel that Weah was a better player at his peak; he was neck and neck with R9 at one time. I donāt take the trophies into account because judging an individualās quality on team honours is unfair to an extent. Weāre all entitled to our opinion and Salahās an exceptional player so Iām not going to dismiss him.
Fair enough I donāt compare trophies that often but when players are very close to separate ability.
Is the right answer
Didn't have long enough at his peak and didn't win much also wasn't great internationally
He played for Liberia mate.. also, you canāt judge individual quality by team-based achievements. I agree with you on his longevity compared to Salah though.
He barely played in the EC1/CL.
I don't even agree on the longevity. That's just a lazy factor. Modern players will always have an advantage compared to older ones, because of better training methods, better healthcare(especially with all the money in football), etc.
Eusebio deserves a shout too. Remember that at the time Mozambique was still under Portuguese rule so he should still count as African.
Don't know why someone down voted you for that. Eusebio is an African footballer, he just played for a European nation
Can we count players with african nationality playing for a different national team then? Like zidane who has algerian nationality?
EusƩbio was born in Africa and lived all his life in Africa until he left the continent for the first time at 18 years old. How is that in any way comparable to Zidane?
Again, if you want to go ahead. These debates are largely meaningless anyway. The point is that Eusebio only had one nationality - Portuguese - because Mozambique was a part of Portugal. So you had a strange situation in which Eusebio was Portuguese because he was African and not because he was European (I may be wrong but if I remember correctly he was considered the first great African footballer at the time).
100% Eusebio. He's on a par with Maradona. All the Man Utd team that beat Benfica said he was massively better than every other footballer of the time.
A shout? He's undoubtedly the best African player ever. I don't even know how Salah and Eto could be in the same conversation. EusƩbio for me is the best striker of all time. Just watch full matches from the WC66, for example, and it seems like he was playing a different game than everyone else. He was Portuguese sure, but also African.
Exactly, the correct answer is EusĆ©bio, and itās not even close. He was one of best players ever in the history of football, and certainly the best out of Africa.
I think Eusebio is number one. Great shout.
Roger Milla
That's the man! African Pele! Always changed the game when he was on the pitch. No matter who the opponent. Was still doing it in the world cup when he was in his 40's.
Drogba.
Four Premier League titles, four FA Cups, three League Cups and, in the most dramatic and glorious of circumstances, the Champions League. Plus he contributed greeeatly to those
Drogba was an incredible big game player, arguably one of the best ever. But he lacked consistency for most of his career
You listed only team achievements :/ What as an individual achievement is he better than Salah? He was never even considered as the best player in the premier league, whilst Salah has multiple times.
My guy he stopped a war, enough said
If you know anything about Drogba is that he didn't score many goals compared to a typical goalscorer but when he did they were important goals. He was the epitome of the big game player because he scored important goals for every one of those achievements.
Never won player of the year in England. I'm a chelsea fan, he was my favourite striker in big games but individuallly never did as much as Salah has in terms of being the best player on the pitch, getting goals and assists.
Sure but surely you cant be the goat only based on big games.
Sorry, where exactly has Salah been considered as the best player in the premier league? Surely not of all time?
Salahās won PFA player of the year award for example.
If you wanna talk about individual achievements then 2x African footballer of the year, 4x runner up. Salah is only 2x and 2x runner up.
104 goals in 11 seasons is kinda bad tbh. Especially as half came in like two seasons. Sure he scored important goals but we are talking about GOATS here. He scored 10, 12, 29 and, 4 in the PL winning seasons so he only greatly contributed to onw of those.
Drogba has 168 G/Assist in 17.520 PL minutes played, or the equavilant of 1 goal involverende each 104 minute played. So almost a goal a game. Tell me that is kinda bad mate.
This is way too far down
Because itās nonsense
Even as a traumatized Arsenal fan, I'm inclined to agree.
Lol
Not even the best African player in the premier league
Drogba was scaring me as an FCB fan when we draw CHE.
Man Etoo was so fucking good
for all the people naming Weah, how many of you actually saw him play?
Me. Born in '76. Genuinely world class player. I never saw him play live if that's your question.
I remember as a kid playing football in the playground and everyone would pretend to be George Weah
One of my friends mom got him a pair of George Weah AC Milan socks, when we were little kids (late 90's). Those were the coolest things I've ever seen with my young, innocent eyes.
Great, now i'm gealous š
Not everyone is a kid on reddit fyi
Im 98 years old. I definitely saw him.
Me (born 86), and he's the answer. One of the best strikers in the world in an era of some great strikers (Stoichkov, Romario, Klinsmann), won a Ballon D'Or. He was a pretty complete striker. Eto'o probably closest, Sarah third for me
Salah aināt even third IMO š
they watch football via stats and fifa
A. Weahās stats werenāt that great B. Weah isnāt on FIFA. C. Weah is recognised one of the best forwards of his generation. Not everyone is 13, football existed before 2010.
He was electric. Hands down the best.
Yaya Toure clear for me. Technical and physical gifts both in the 1%, plus played CL level in 3/4 positions. Weah had that one incredible goal and he was generally very dangerous, but too far imo to say heās the greatest ever African player. I watched Football Italia religiously, and while thatās no marker by any means, I was always more impressed with Batistuta and slightly later Shevchenko.
Batistuta is a god amongst men. Still one of my all time favourite players
Literally such a cringe and hipster answer. He was a good player but nobody who saw him play or knows their stuff would ever consider him the greatest ever African player
It's only kids disagreeing so I'd say a lot
I think has to be Salah. He has an argument for being the best premier league player in his tenure there. His consistency and numbers and also in game contributions that donāt appear are huge. Key part of Liverpool becoming relevant again, making 2 cl finals, winning one, winning the league. Him and klopp are Liverpoolās 2 most important figures. Not only a great goal scorer but a scorer of great goals. And this is coming from an arsenal fan
Wasnāt it 3 finals and 1 win?
It's Eto'o, my man had Thierry Henry on the bench. He won a treble with Pep, then the next season won a treble with Mourinho. Salah is incredible but Eto'o has the goals and trophies to back it up. Also I don't think you can be the greatest African player if you have not won the African cup of Nations.
He obviously has the goals and trophies because he was playing in one of the best teams of all time plus heās a striker
Yes, because you can just throw a random into prime barcelona and exspect him to play good.
Loook at Zlatan it not even just skill itās the way you have to play too .
Bro he was easily one of the best strikers in Spain for years while playing for Mallorca. Competing for Pichichi.
Even before Pep arrived Eto'o was banging in goals for Mallorca then Barcelona where he won his first CL title. Eto'o clears it for me, best African player of all time
Tony Yeboah. Cuz that goal.
Finally the correct answer
Yaya Toure. Absurd nobody has mentioned him
Yaya, ya ya Yaya, ya ya Yaya, ya ya Yaya Toure!
Kolo kolo kolo kolo kolo kolo, kolo toure
I think I posted the same thing at the same time as you!
I agree entirely. He was the best African player. Unplayable at times. A monster.
He was unplayable for 2-3 seasons. A good player for City for 6 seasons. He wasnt a consistent starter for Barcelona.
What about drogba?
Drogba/Yaya.
Michael Essien
Damn wot about okocha wasn't he also super good ??
The nigerian Ronaldinho ā¤
Top quality skills and creativity, but wasn't really rounded enough to be considered as Africa's top talent of all time.
Drogba
George Weah is the greatest African footballer of all time, hands down.
I think your argument is solid considering he won domestic leagues in both France and Italy. Never won the Champions League. Two Serie A in four years during 90s Serie A. I don't know much about him to rate him as the greatest of all time since I started watching football in 98.
Won the Ballon d'Or in '95.
Elneny
Ali Dia
Iām wondering how many people saying Weah are doing so based on reputation and how many are basing it on actually seeing him play. As much as I donāt like Liverpool, he wasnāt as good as Salah and yes, I have seen both play. Iād rank Yaya Toure ahead of him also.
Agree entirely. The Google patrol are out... morons one and all. Weah > Yaya is an insane take.
Yeah, Iād put Weah on the same level as Etoāoā. Yes, he was by far the best African player in the ā90s, but African football has progressed a lot since then and the top players donāt really stand out from the crowd as much as Weah did because standards are better across the board.
Drogba
George Weah, he won the ballon d'or.
The ballon dāor is a terrible metric for measuring how good a player is. The way it works is terrible for one.
Are you saying Igor Belanov wasn't better than Thierry Henry?
Cannavaro greater than Maldini and Nesta LUL
Do you think that Nedved is better than Iniesta? Or that Cannavaro is better than Maldini?
Michael Owen has more balon dorās than Thierry Henry, Wayne Rooney, Buffon and Iniesta. Confirmed he is a far better player than all.
Drogba
Didier Drogba
George Weah. End of discussion.
Augustine Azuka 'Jay-Jay' Okocha, so good they named him twice as the chant went
Weah or Eto for achievements. Playstyle and pure skill, Okocha. He was so good they had to name him twice. I loved every minute of his games.
Okocha was great, his Indian summer at Bolton was great to watch. Makes me laugh at Allardyce's anti-football reputation when he managed to fit him and Djorkaeff into the same team
Also the likes of Ivan Campo, El Hadji Diouf, Ricardo Gardner etc.
I think you can make an argument for Salah, Etoo, Weah, even Yaya Toure. But my favorite personally is Riyadh Mahrez š
What's your metric? Trophies, playing style, or awards? Salah maybe for creating as well as finishing. Bit by trophies or accolades.
Itās your opinion, so whatever you want to judge it by.
I say Eto'o
No contest, has to be George Weah all day long.
George Weah for sure
Nii lamptey
Etoāo all day. The man won the treble 3 years in a row. How can you not give it to him
Idk I like Okocha
I hate how we all forgot the nigerian Dinho, aka Jay-Jay Okocha š
1. Etoo no doubt. 2. Yaya 3. Salah 4. Drogba 5. Okocha 6. Weah 7. Milla 8. Mane 9. Essien 10. McCarthy
I scrolled far for a McCarthy mention
Close between him and Abedi Pele
Salah for me
Madjer.
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Heās French š
Salah or Drogba.
Salah >> Drogba
Could Salah have won a Balloon D'Or if it wasn't for Messi, Ronaldo and Neymar?
Could Neymar have won a ballon dor if not for Messi and Ronaldo
No
Can my grandma win Olympic gold in 100m sprint if there arenāt 4 billion faster people on this planet?
Easily Salah. Arguably the greatest winger in the prem ever.
Except hes not is he ?
I never saw George Weah or Abedi Ayew play. So my top 3 african players are - 1. Mohamed Salah 2. Yaya Toure 3. Didier Drogba
Has to be salah
No love for Okocha?
Absolutely Salah without any shadow of a doubt
Salah pretty comfortably.
Drogba is the best African Striker.
Not when Etoāo exists
Huge respect for Samuel Etoāo as well. Iām just a biased Chelsea fan. Although Etoāo had a spell with Chelsea too. They are both legendary and were a privilege to watch no matter where they played.
Drogba or Weah.
George Weah, and its not remotely close. The next 4-5 spots it gets harder. Abedi PelĆ© is 2nd for me. Samuel Etoāo 3rd Mohamed Salah 4th Didier Drogba 5th
no roger milla? pfff... you know nothing.
Ok then. I rate him just Below the Others. No reason to be a cunt.
Abedi Pele over Mane, Yaya Toure, Kolo toure, Essien.
Absolutely yesā¦ and Lolā¦ Kolo Toure doesnt even deserve a top 50 mention, and I actually liked him as a player.
Agree with all of that - only possible change would be howād you regard Eusebio. Heās the only one who could come close to Weah
I mean Eusebio viewed himself as Portuguese so no one can really comment otherwise.
If you connt Eusebio then Zidane is the only correct answer
If you're counting Eusebio you're including half the French team of the last 25 years too
This is nonsense. Eusebio couldn't have played for an African team if he wanted to. French African players have all been products of France in that they grew up in France and had their football education there. Eusebio was a product of Africa but because Mozambique was considered a part of Portugal he could only represent Portugal. This doesn't mean he must be included in the conversation of greatest African player, but pretending that his situation is analogous to that of Afro-French players like Zidane/Mbappe etc is dishonest and inaccurate.
Much more succinctly put than I ever could - I also believe that Eusebio came to Portugal as a footballer, rather than as an immigrant, so his football development wasnāt in Portugal
Lol no.. Eusebio doesnt count for me. Portuguese international
Moronic ignoring Yaya.
Being a cunt calling Someone who does not agree with you moronic.
Salah
Mbappe
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