Ghanaians have always played a prominent role in European football and it's no different today. Let's have a look at the Top 5 Ghanaian players in Europe.
Players like Michael Essien, Samuel Kuffor, Steven Appiah, and Sulley Muntari have left a considerable mark on European football. They have reached amazing heights, won tons of trophies, and have been awarded with huge bonuses very much like those at this South African website.
These days the number of Ghanaian players playing in Europe is still quite high, even though their quality may have dropped a little. This is also evident from the state of the Ghanaian national team, which is currently underperforming at international level. And we all know that Europe based Ghanaians have always driven the Ghanaian national team forward.
With all this in mind, we tried to make a Top 5 list of the best Ghanaians playing in Europe, and it's fair to say that even though we didn't have problems compiling the list, we were a little disappointed to see that most Ghanaian players in Europe weren't playing key roles in their clubs.
- Andre Ayew
The only exception to the statement above is Andre Ayew. He has been a key part of a Swansea team which has been losing its character in recent months, but the Ghanaian has always performed to the best of his abilities.
He was a key member of Gary Monk's squad, and now that Monk has gone he has established himself as an indispensible part of Francesco Guidolin's team. In fact, he has played in almost all of Swansea's league matches and has had 12 goals this season, the last of which came against Manchester City in the last round of the EPL. With him up front Swansea have managed to stave off relegation worries and have had a pretty relaxing end of the season.
- Abdul Baba Rahman
Chelsea fans probably expected much more from the player they signed last summer from FC Augsburg for around 20£ million. The left back was instrumental for the German club last year and helped them qualify for the Europa League. However, since arriving in Chelsea Baba Rahman hasn't quite reproduced the form which made him one of the most sought after left backs on the market in the last summer transfer window.
This season the Ghanaian made 23 appearances in total for the Blues and in those he was largely used as a substitute for either the injured Azpilicueta or Ivanovic. He had some impressive appearances, like the one against PSG in the first leg of the Champions League Round of 16, but most of his showings for the London club were rather mediocre. There were many situations when the young left back found himself out of position or chasing shadows, something that never happened to him in Germany.
Now that Antonio Conte is taking over at Chelsea, Baba will sure try to impress as much as he can, especially as Chelsea's backline is in dire need of changes. If he doesn't do that and has another flat season, it's hard to imagine that the Chelsea hierarchy will remain patient, and Baba might be playing in another jersey next season.
- Jeffrey Schlupp
Schlupp has just had his name engraved in history as a proud owner of a Premier League winner's medal. He was part of a Leicester side that surprised the whole football world by lifting the EPL title and is one of the heroes which forever will serve as an inspiration to underappreciated and undervalued players and teams.
He started the season as an integral part of Ranieri's squad, but after suffering a hamstring injury in mid-December last year he was forced to spend two months on the sidelines. After returning from injury, Jeffrey had problems establishing himself as a first team player and was mostly used as a rotation option until the end of the season.
- Jordan Ayew
Andre Ayew's younger brother hasn't quite been on the same level as his brother, but he has still had a decent season. The Aston Villa striker is one of the few Villa players who might earn a transfer to a Premier League club after the club from Birmingham has been relegated.
He arrived for 9£ million from FC Lorient and appeared in 30 league games and scored 7 league goals, which might not sound like a lot, but when you compare it to Villa's total number of goals of 27 it doesn't sound very bad.
- Christian Atsu
The young winger has been touted as one of the best young African players in recent years, but it's fair to say that he hasn't quite lived up to all the hype surrounding him. He came to Chelsea from Porto for 4.5£ million, but since his arrival he has been loaned out to 4 different clubs in just 3 years.
He had his most productive loan spell with Vitesse in his first year as a loanee, but after that season he had two quite disappointing years with Everton and FC Bournemouth. This season he started as a Chelsea player and made a couple of League Cup appearances, but ended the season as part of a decent Malaga CF side.
It's obvious that Atsu is a talented and physically imposing player, but he still needs to work hard on the consistency in his performances and on the improvement of some key aspects of his game such as decision making.