Liverpool's Legacy: Who Will Succeed Salah as Premier League Star?
Six years ago Liverpool strode into a new Premier League season as champions, carried there on the shoulders of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane. Two African superstars, one long-awaited title, and a sense that Anfield had found its gods.
Mane left in 2022. Now the “Egyptian King” has abdicated too, trading Merseyside for Trabzonspor and the Black Sea coast.
He leaves behind a ridiculous legacy. Nine Premier League seasons, 308 games, 191 goals, 93 assists. At 34, he walks away as the fourth-highest scorer in the competition’s history.
Replacing that? Good luck.
But the league never waits. New heroes are already queuing up, boots laced, ready to chase his shadow and, maybe, step out of it.
Semenyo: From rejection to £65m man
If there is a leading contender to become Africa’s next Premier League superstar, it is Antoine Semenyo.
His route to the top was anything but smooth. As a teenager he was turned away by Arsenal, Tottenham and Crystal Palace. No golden pathway, no academy fast-track. He had to scrap for every chance.
His Premier League debut did not arrive until February 2023. Three years on, Manchester City decided his relentless running, raw power and growing eye for goal were worth £65m.
The Ghana forward, a committed Christian, now carries the expectations of both City and his country. They will want his numbers to start nudging into Salah territory.
Last season was his most productive in league terms: 17 goals. Impressive, even if he still trailed well behind team-mate Erling Haaland and Brentford’s Igor Thiago.
Yet his curve is pointed one way: up. If that improvement continues, this could be the year Semenyo stops being a promising story and becomes one of the sport’s global headliners.
Marmoush: The only true ‘Egyptian heir’?
If the Premier League is to crown a new “Egyptian King”, Omar Marmoush is the obvious candidate.
There is a problem, though. This Pharaoh has spent much of his English adventure standing in the long shadow of a Norwegian viking.
Since arriving from Frankfurt, the 27-year-old has made just 22 Premier League starts in a season and a half for Manchester City. Three league goals in 2025-26 tell their own story: talent, but no sustained run.
Pre-season has flickered with promise. Marmoush struck twice against Atletico Madrid in his first outing under new City head coach Enzo Maresca, a timely reminder of what he can do when trusted.
His real opportunity, however, may lie away from the Etihad. Tottenham are in talks to sign him, and a move could finally give him the stage Salah once seized at Anfield.
Mbeumo and Sarr: United’s potential African axis
Bryan Mbeumo no longer feels like a breakout act. He is established, hardened, and one of the Premier League’s most reliable forwards.
In his final season at Brentford he delivered 27 goal involvements in the league, a haul that earned him a £65m switch to Manchester United. His first campaign at Old Trafford brought 14 goal involvements – not explosive, but he finished strongly after returning from the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.
Under Michael Carrick, United rediscovered some of their old authority. Mbeumo grew with them.
Now he has had a summer without World Cup commitments. Rested, settled, and with a year of Old Trafford pressure behind him, he looks primed to start fast.
Ismaila Sarr might soon be alongside him.
United’s interest in the Senegal forward is easy to understand. He arrives off the back of a World Cup in which he matched Roger Milla’s iconic African record of four goals at a single tournament.
His club form has kept pace. Sarr hit a career-best 21 goals in all competitions last season, spearheading Crystal Palace’s charge to Uefa Conference League glory.
Form, confidence, pedigree – everything is aligned. If he does join Mbeumo in red, Old Trafford could become the centre of African attacking power in England.
Kudus and Ndiaye: Flair with something to prove
While Sarr was lighting up the World Cup, Mohammed Kudus could only watch.
A long-term hamstring injury ruled the Ghana playmaker out of the tournament. The 26-year-old now needs a clean run of fitness as he fights for a starting place in Roberto De Zerbi’s Tottenham rebuild.
Nobody questions his ability. Kudus has the trickery, imagination and explosiveness to torment any defence. The challenge is simple, and brutal: do it every week.
Iliman Ndiaye has fewer doubts around his availability, but faces a different test – turning his highlight-reel skills into trophies.
The Everton forward is arguably the league’s great showman. Only Manchester City’s Jeremy Doku completed more dribbles in the Premier League last season. Toffees fans call him “Skilliman” for a reason.
That flair has not gone unnoticed. After his second World Cup, Saudi side Al-Hilal have shown interest, while Manchester United and Arsenal have also been linked.
The question hangs over him: does he need a Champions League platform to turn those dancing feet into medals?
Wissa and Fredrick: Power at both ends
Yoane Wissa’s season at Newcastle United never really started until it was half over.
A knee injury wiped out the first part of his campaign and denied him a place at Afcon. When he finally hit his stride, he reminded everyone of his value, then underlined it with three goals for DR Congo at the World Cup.
Fit again, he looks central to Newcastle’s attempt to rebuild and reassert themselves among England’s elite. His direct running and finishing could yet push him into the conversation of Africa’s leading Premier League forwards.
At Brentford, the potential “new king” might be a defender.
Benjamin Fredrick has just signed a four-year deal and been promoted to the first team. That alone is notable: he is that rare thing, a player signed directly from Nigeria by a Premier League club.
His trajectory was already steep. A successful loan in Belgium last season and a planned starting role for Nigeria at Afcon were only halted by a knee injury on the eve of the tournament.
Brentford boss Keith Andrews sees “a lot of potential” in the 21-year-old. If he fulfils it, he could redefine what an African star in England looks like – not a winger or striker, but a commanding centre-back.
New faces, familiar echoes
Salah’s story in England began quietly. When he joined Chelsea from Basel in 2014, few outside scouting circles paid much attention.
Brighton will hope history repeats with Zadok Yohanna.
Signed for £21.5m in June, the Nigerian wideman arrives with limited fanfare but an intriguing profile. Like Salah, he is a left-footed right-sided attacker, built to cut in and cause chaos.
On the opposite flank, Newcastle’s £43m signing Bazoumana Traore is already drawing praise for his pre-season form. The Ivorian has wasted no time showing why the club invested so heavily.
Further down the ladder, Coventry City have made a statement of their own. The Championship side spent a club-record £23m on Caleb Yirenkyi after the 20-year-old midfielder impressed for Ghana at the World Cup, scoring a late winner against Panama.
He may not be in the Premier League yet, but the trajectory is clear. Perform like that for club and country, and the top flight tends to come calling.
The next giant – or is he already here?
Perhaps the true successor to Salah has not even arrived yet.
Morocco’s Ayyoub Bouaddi looks close. Manchester City are in negotiations with Lille for the 18-year-old central midfielder, who oozed calm authority in the Atlas Lions’ World Cup opener against Brazil.
If that move goes through, City will have secured one of the continent’s most exciting young talents before he has even played a Premier League minute.
Then there is the name that refuses to go away: Victor Osimhen.
For years the Nigerian striker has been linked with England. For years he has stayed away. Now, at 27 and coming off a season of 29 goals in all competitions, the noise is growing again.
Osimhen already carries superstar status back home. If he finally swaps Galatasaray for the Premier League in the same summer Salah leaves for Turkey, the symbolism will be impossible to ignore.
One king gone. Another, perhaps, finally ready to walk through the door.
