But a generation of new young talents are on their way through, and will be the stars of the future for the continent’s international hopes. These are five of the brightest.
Emmanuel Emenike (Karabukspor / Nigeria)
The prolific forward is one of the best talents to come out of Nigeria in recent years. The 23 year old has been scoring in abundance in turkey and his power and pace mean that he has the potential to provide a real handful to defences. Likened to Daniel Amokachi, the former Everton forward, he has made the transition with his club from the Turkish second tier to the top flight impressively and continued to be prolific.
Kermit Erasmus (Supersport United / South Africa)
The youngster has been likened to Wayne Rooney with his pace and power, and has been highly successful in his short career to date. The next big South African talent, he has played in Europe already with Excelsior in Holland, scoring a number of goals for the club in his brief spell there.
Having scored regularly for South Africa’s youth sides, he has found himself in contention for the first team, recently making his debut. He has however failed in a trial for Dutch giants Feyenoord
Knowledge Musona (Kaiser Chiefs / Zimbabwe)
The last great Zimbabwean player was Paul N’Dlove, so Musona hardly has burdens of history weighing on his shoulders. But the player has been prolific playing for Kaiser Chiefs and possesses a great eye for goal. A little on the small side, he is a bit like an African Jermaine Defoe, and looks set to move to Europe with German outfit Hoffenheim.
He won the rookie of the year award last year and looks set to be another important player in African football in the years to come.
Mostafa Afroto (Al Ahly / Egypt)
Speedy and fast, Afroto is a midfielder who won the African young player of the year award in 2009 and looks set to be a huge prospect for the next generation of Egyptian football.
With a sublime touch, he burst onto the scene on his debut with a goal for Osama Hosny when 1-0 down to Ittihad from a 40 yard free kick. His team then recovered to win 4-2 and he scored a second goal late on.
He starred for Egypt in the 2009 under 20 FIFA World Cup, and helped his team to a win over Italy. Highly talented, “little genie” is sure to be an African star of the future.
Kwadwo Asamoah (Udinese / Ghana)
Asamoah now plies his trade in Italy for Udinese, who know a good young talent when they see one. At the age of just 20 he has already played 22 times for his country and won the African young player of the year award. Now a first team regular in Italy he will be looking forward to Champions League football next season. Linked with a number of top teams in Europe including Arsenal, the Ghanaian has a bright future ahead of him in the European club scene.
