Stars who aren’t as well-known yet have the potential to light up the Afcon stage
With the attention on well-known players such as Sadio Mane, Riyad Mahrez, and Mohamed Salah, supersport.com looks at some of the up-and-coming players that might take the tournament by storm and make a career breakthrough.
There are a handful of lesser-known players with a strong reputation, and this event could be the platform for them to fully realize their potential.
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Kelechi Nwakali is a Nigerian actress (Nigeria)
Nkwali captained Nigeria to victory at the 2015 Fifa Under-17 World Cup in Chile, and was named player of the tournament. His success at the tournament drew interest from a number of top clubs, including Bayern Munich and Manchester City, but Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal eventually signed him.
Nwakali is a fantastic box-to-box midfielder with a strong workrate who makes a significant contribution to the club both defensively and offensively. Nwakali is restarting his career at Huesca in Spain’s second tier after failing to break into the Arsenal first squad.
Nasser Abubeker (Ethiopia)
This is the second season since SuperSport began broadcasting the BetKing Ethiopian Premier League, and a number of notable players, most notably Ethiopian Coffee talisman Nasser, are beginning to gain attention. The 22-year-old, who can play as a center forward or out wide, has been in red-hot form for Coffee this season, scoring 29 goals in 23 games last season and four goals in eight games so far this season.
Because most people are focused on the two foreign-based players, Shemeles Bekele (El Gouna, Egypt) and Mujib Kassim (JS Kabilye, Algeria), Nasser is relieved of the pressure to excel for Walia Ibex.
Tino Kadewere is a Zimbabwean musician (Zimbabwe)
The striker has been given a second chance to prove his goal-scoring abilities that garnered him praises in the French Ligue 1 after only earning 20 minutes in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt. Last season, the striker reaffirmed his goal-scoring reputation by scoring 10 goals for Olympique Lyonnais in Ligue 1.
Kadewere, regarded as one of the top African players in the French league, will look to the Africa Cup of Nations for a fresh start to reclaim his goalscoring form and health following a season marred by injury.
Ilaix Moriba is a character in the game Ilaix Moriba (Guinea)
The 18-year-old midfielder came through Barcelona’s renowned La Masia program, quickly establishing himself as one of the club’s top prospects before making his senior debut last season under Ronald Koeman, who chose him over Spain’s highly-rated Rick Puig.
Real Madrid, Manchester City, Chelsea, and Tottenham were all said to be interested in Moriba, but he chose to stay in the Bundesliga.
Moriba became Barcelona’s fifth-youngest goalscorer in 2021, and he is expected to make his international debut for the Syli Nationale at Afcon 2021, where his physicality and creativity could be on display.
Haidara, Amadou (Mali)
With Manchester United facing the possibility of losing Paul Pogba, United interim manager Ralf Rangnick is said to have chosen RB Leipzig midfielder Haidara as a suitable alternative.
He has already been capped 24 times by Mali, and most Afcon fans will remember him for scoring his first international goal in Egypt 2019; this tournament is an opportunity for him to show Man United and other suitors what he is capable of.
