Premier League’s African Stars Shape Season 26-27

The Premier League’s African core is about to shape another season. Established stars, expensive gambles, late bloomers and kids on the brink – all carrying the weight of a continent into 26-27.

Here are 12 storylines that will not sit quietly in the background.

Carlos Baleba – Brighton & Hove Albion

Different season, same cloud over Carlos Baleba.

He’s still a Brighton player, still heavily linked with Manchester United, still hovering in that uneasy space between what he is and what he could be. The move collapsed last year and his campaign unravelled with it. Head coach Fabian Hurzeler did not hide his frustration, accusing the Cameroon international of letting the failed transfer dominate his mind.

He never quite rediscovered his sparkling 24-25 form. Now, the landscape has shifted. Casemiro is gone, United’s need for a central midfielder is sharper than ever, and Old Trafford looks marginally less chaotic than it did a year ago.

At 22, Baleba would walk into a dressing room led by Michael Carrick, a coach whose own career in that position offers a clear blueprint. If the deal finally happens, this season stops being about rumours and becomes a verdict on whether he belongs at the very top.

Amad Diallo – Manchester United

The waiting is over for Amad Diallo.

He returns to Manchester United buoyed by a strong FIFA World Cup with Ivory Coast, where he delivered key moments even as some argued Emerse Fae underused him. Diallo scored a fine winner against Ecuador and then the equaliser in the dramatic, doomed Last 16 clash with Norway.

He is 24 now. No longer the raw prodigy with time on his side. Under Ruben Amorim he flashed his talent, but never quite nailed down a guaranteed starting berth. That luxury of patience has gone.

Diallo is technically outstanding, slippery in tight spaces and capable of outrageous finishes. This has to be the year he stops being a cameo and becomes a constant. United need match-winners. Can he turn promise into inevitability and become one of the league’s must-watch forwards?

Iliman Ndiaye – Everton

Few players make 113 minutes feel like a full tournament. Iliman Ndiaye did.

Used sparingly at the World Cup, he still walked away with a goal and two assists, a sharp reminder of how irresistible he can be when the ball sticks to his feet. In the Premier League, he remains one of the pure entertainers: a technical magician who makes defenders guess wrong.

Yet at Everton, the picture is murkier. David Moyes has not fully worked out how to use him, or even where. The sense persists that the club is leaving something special untapped.

Saudi interest lingers in the background, and reports say the 26-year-old has turned down a new contract. If he stays at Goodison Park, the numbers must follow the talent. Nine direct goal involvements last season was not enough for someone with his gifts. This year, either he explodes – or Everton risk losing a player they never truly unlocked.

Nicolas Jackson – Chelsea

Nicolas Jackson’s future looked straightforward at the start of the summer. It no longer does.

After an up-and-down loan at Bayern Munich and a disappointing World Cup, there was hope he might get a second crack at Chelsea, a clean slate at Stamford Bridge. Xabi Alonso spoke well of him in Germany, praising his qualities despite the inconsistency.

Then came the twist. Reports this week say the 25-year-old is among a group of up to 12 players told to train away from the first team. That is as clear a message as a club can send without booking the taxi.

A move is coming. Aston Villa are circling, and a reunion with Unai Emery – the coach who first brought the best out of him at Villarreal – would make a lot of sense. For a 6'2" striker still trying to prove he belongs at the highest level, this season feels like a crossroads rather than a continuation.

Antoine Semenyo – Manchester City

Antoine Semenyo did not tiptoe into Manchester City. He stormed in.

From the moment he arrived, he looked comfortable at a club that usually chews up and spits out newcomers. He adapted quickly, scored important goals and capped it with a gorgeous winner in the FA Cup final. It was the sort of introduction that changes how a fanbase sees you.

Now comes the hard part. Pep Guardiola has gone, taking with him a unique school of attacking education that could have refined the Ghana international even further. Under new management, Semenyo has to prove he was not just a system success, but a City-level forward in his own right.

Competition for minutes will be brutal, as always, yet the targets are clear. Breaking the 20-goal mark is not fantasy, especially if he deepens his understanding with Erling Haaland. If he does, City will not just have a supporting act – they will have another headline name.

Brandon Thomas-Asante – Coventry City

Brandon Thomas-Asante has taken the long road. Now the lights get brighter.

He climbed through the lower leagues, earned his chance with Ghana, and still had to settle for just 51 minutes at the World Cup – even after supplying the decisive assist in the opener against Panama. That would frustrate most players. He used it as fuel.

At 27, he finally lands in the Premier League with Coventry City. Speaking to ESPN, he laid bare just how much this step means to him: years of “holding out and holding out, pushing, pushing,” rewarded by a breakthrough he always believed would come.

Thomas-Asante brings raw pace, aggression and a nose for goal to a Coventry side that will need all three to survive. The question is not whether he can handle the level. It is whether he gets the minutes to show it in a squad suddenly packed with attacking options.

Taiwo Awoniyi – Coventry City

For Taiwo Awoniyi, this feels like last-chance territory.

Coventry have paid £9 million to bring the Nigeria striker from Nottingham Forest, betting that his blend of strength, intelligence and penalty-box instinct can translate into survival. The Premier League has seen flashes of that player before. It has not seen him sustain it.

Awoniyi has not hit double figures in the league since 2022-23. Last season he managed just four goals, with injuries cutting into his rhythm and confidence. At 29, the margin for error shrinks. This is not a developmental project; it is a demand.

Coventry will lean heavily on his presence up front as they fight to stay up. If he finds his old sharpness, he could be the difference between another relegation scrap and something more stable. If he doesn’t, the division may not offer him another invitation.

Yoane Wissa – Newcastle United

Yoane Wissa arrived at Newcastle United with a £50 million price tag and big expectations. He did not come close to meeting them.

Injuries slowed his start after the move from Brentford, but even once he found his feet, the goals did not follow. One strike in the EFL Cup in December, and then just a single league goal across the entire campaign. For a 29-year-old forward signed to change games, it was a brutal return.

This season, everything around him is shifting. Eddie Howe has gone, the squad is being reshaped, and roles are up for grabs. That can either bury a player or liberate him.

Wissa still has the qualities that made Newcastle pay so heavily: power, direct running, the ability to unsettle defences. Now he needs output. If he cannot impose himself in this new-look side, the club may quickly move on from one of the most expensive gambles in their recent history.

Bryan Mbeumo – Manchester United

Bryan Mbeumo has already answered one big question: can he live at Manchester United’s level? Last season, he showed he could.

Once the perfect foil to Wissa at Brentford, Mbeumo stepped into a far harsher spotlight at Old Trafford and did not shrink. His movement, work rate and consistency helped United through the turbulence of Ruben Amorim’s final days, and he ended the year looking like a core piece rather than a luxury.

Now the bar rises. Twenty Premier League goals should be his benchmark – he hit that figure for Brentford in 24-25. The concern is the drought that followed. From early February to late May, he did not score at all, a slump that threatened to undercut his entire campaign.

If he can cut out those barren runs, Mbeumo has the tools to become one of the division’s most reliable forwards. If he cannot, United may find themselves once again searching for someone to finish the chances he so often helps create.

Omar Marmoush – Manchester City

Omar Marmoush looked lost at times under Guardiola. Now he might just be the surprise beneficiary of change.

The Egypt forward arrived with a strong scoring record from Eintracht Frankfurt, yet never truly broke through at Manchester City. He finished last season with only three league goals and just eight starts, his obvious qualities buried under the weight of tactical demands and competition.

Guardiola’s departure resets the equation. Under Enzo Maresca, Marmoush has already flickered back to life, impressing in pre-season and scoring twice in a win over Atletico Madrid. It was a reminder of the penalty-box sharpness that first put him on City’s radar.

Transfer noise refuses to die down, with Tottenham Hotspur heavily linked. Whether he stays or goes, this campaign will define his Premier League reputation. Is he a fringe talent, or a forward who simply needed the right context?

Frank Onyeka – Coventry City

Frank Onyeka is back for another crack at the Premier League, and this time the stakes feel personal.

At Brentford, he never quite nailed down a permanent starting spot under Thomas Frank. He showed flashes of his ball-winning ability and energy, but not enough to become undroppable. The real version of Onyeka reappeared in the Championship under Frank Lampard, where he finally looked like a player in control of his own story.

Coventry now hand him the keys to their midfield fight. His experience in relegation battles with Brentford could prove vital in a season where every point will feel like a small rescue mission.

At 28, there is another layer to his motivation: Nigeria. With the Africa Cup of Nations looming next summer, Onyeka knows a strong campaign in England’s top tier could cement his place in the Super Eagles’ plans. That kind of incentive tends to sharpen performances.

Ousmane Diomande – Nottingham Forest

Ousmane Diomande walks into the Premier League with a reputation that usually takes years to build.

At Sporting Lisbon, the young centre-back reached a point where he looked almost too comfortable, cruising through games in the Portuguese top flight. Scouts across Europe took note. Nottingham Forest moved, and now he arrives at a club whose defensive solidity has underpinned their survival.

The Premier League will test him in ways he has not yet faced: relentless tempo, aerial bombardments, forwards who never stop running at you. At 22, that is exactly the kind of examination that can turn raw potential into something far more serious.

Diomande has all the raw materials to become an elite modern defender – pace, strength, composure on the ball. If Forest give him the right platform and he adapts quickly, they might not just have found a cornerstone for their back line. They might have landed Africa’s next great centre-back, right as the league’s spotlight burns brightest.