Serie A for Africa, and Africa for Serie A.

Date: 22nd January 2017 at 7:32pm
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With the Cup of Nations ongoing, here are some of the African players who’ve starred in Serie A despite Italy not generally looking south for talent

The Ascoli side of 1981/82 might not be an obvious place to make history, but it was in the celebrated black and white stripes that Francois Zahoui cut his teeth, becoming the first African to play in Serie A.

At 27 years of age, he hardly made an impression on the field, but he very definitely blazed a trail, one that has seen African players so important to Serie A clubs that the ongoing Cup of Nations in Gabon significantly weakened by those squad members who are participating.

Gabon’s side in that competition is spearheaded by another player who came to Serie A, only to be moved on without making an impression on the league. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang failed to make a single appearance for AC Milan before being shunted around Europe and becoming a star in Dortmund.

The Rossoneri have, however, enjoyed the success of perhaps the best African to ever grace Serie A. George Weah’s name remains writ large in Milan’s history, winning two Scudetti across his five-year spell in Italy. The Liberian is one of just three African players of the year to be celebrated for his performances.

Patrick M’Boma and Samuel Eto’o both represented Cameroon, the former earning his plaudits at Parma and Cagliari, and Eto’o with Inter. Both forwards were prolific, though the mark Eto’o made is far larger than that of his international team mate.

A traditional powerhouse of the African game, there are no currently active Cameroon internationals in Serie A. One of the most recent was Lazio’s somewhat controversial youngster Joseph Minala. The talk of social media early in his career with the Biancocelesti, Minala’s age was called into dispute after his club photograph seemed to indicate that he looked almost double his stated age of 17.

Now officially aged 20, his first three appearances for Lazio have been supplemented by a selection of loans around Serie B.

Just a year older than Minala, Keita Balde Diao is another kind of African; although born in Spain, his heritage is in Senegal and he has travelled to Gabon this year to represent the Teranga Lions as they look to improve on their best ever finish of runners-up. He is not alone in representing his parents’ country of birth rather than his own.

Diao can count amongst his international team-mates Kalidou Koulibaly, one of three Napoli players to feature at the tournament. The imposing centre-back was born in France, just like Faouzi Ghoulam of Algeria. Omar El Kaddouri hails from Belgium, representing the Red Devils at two different age group levels before progressing to Morocco, his parents’ homeland.

It can work the other way, of course. Innocent Emeghara, who exploded onto the Serie A scene with seven goals for Siena in early 2013, was born in Nigeria but chose to represent Switzerland. Perhaps more famously, and a man who has a legitimate claim to Zahoui’s crown, Eddie Firmani played for almost ten years in Serie A in the 1950s and 60s.

Firmani might have been more well known for his time in England, but the South African-born forward went on to represent the Azzurri as an ‘Oriundi’ – the only African to do so.

Serie A is not awash with African talent, nor was it ever, but it has become a proving ground for players from that continent. Rarely, as George Weah did, will African players move to Serie A while their careers are already well-established, rather that Italy will be their first port of call as they look to move up the ranks of the UEFA family.

Torino’s Afriyie Acquah is a case in point here. His first forays into Europe saw him playing for youth sides with Northern Ireland’s Glentoran, though his initial move to Italy was secured after an impressive display for a Ghanaian side against Empoli.

Avram Grant’s Ghana squad typify the selection for the 2017 Cup of Nations. The Black Stars’ 23 contains just one domestically based player – reserve goalkeeper Richard Ofori. There are few players in Gabon who ply their trade in their home country, and Ofori is one of a handful of second string glovemen who do so.

Italy’s representation in the Cup of Nations is varied. Some squads, like Bologna, will find themselves unaffected – despite having three African players, all are young and none have gone to Gabon for one reason or another – while others, like Napoli, will be hoping for the safe return of a large number of their squad.

Such is modern scouting that there will be few surprise names at the tournament and further arrivals from Africa are more likely to be youngsters trying to move up the leagues than stars like Aubameyang or Sadio Mane. Perhaps Italy is hamstrung a little in this by its lack of empirical history.

The native tongue in much of Africa is either English or French and, as such, it is easier for youngsters to adapt to those countries nowadays – a last laugh for the Europeans of the past on those of the present.

 

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