Made in Africa: The History of African Players in English Football

Description

The signing of Naby Keita for almost GBP53m in August 2017 was the third time in the space of 14 months that Liverpool broke the transfer record for an African player. But while Senegal's Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah of Egypt helped Jurgen Klopp's side reach the Champions League final in 2018, Guinea midfielder Keita took time to adapt to his new surroundings. Tracking his first season in English football and featuring interviews with Klopp and those closest to Liverpool's three biggest African stars, Ed Aarons tells the story of the thrilling 2018/19 campaign that ended with the club's sixth European crown after just missing out to Manchester City in the thrilling Premier League title race. Yet the historic season which saw Mane and Salah share the Premier League's Golden Boot with Arsenal's Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang would not have been possible had it not been for those who blazed the trail before them. From Arthur Wharton - the first player born in Africa to appear in the Football League - to Steve Mokone, Albert Johanneson, Brian and Mark Stein, Peter Ndlovu, Christopher Wreh, Lucas Radebe, Jay Jay Okocha, Didier Drogba, Yaya Toure and Riyad Mahrez, Made in Africa tells the story of the pioneers who changed the face of English football forever.

Ed Aarons is a sports journalist for The Guardian who has been an expert on African football for more than a decade. Born in Croydon, south London in 1981, he fell in love with it while watching a Roger Milla-inspired Cameroon lose to England in the quarter-final of the 1990 World Cup. He has built a reputation for being one of the best of the new generation of football journalists in the country, with particularly close links to African players in the Premier League.

'A wonderful adventure of a book - lively, thorough, and often deeply moving ... An essential read for anyone interested in English football's place in the world' * The Sunday Times *