The 2018/19 Premier League season was a historic one for African players in English football. More than 130 years after Arthur Wharton became the first, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah shared the Golden Boot with Arsenal's Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in a record-breaking campaign that saw Liverpool pipped for the title by a point by Manchester City.

A statue of Wharton now stands at the Football Association's headquarters at St George's Park - a testament to his status as an important pioneer of the game. But the story of how it got there, just like many of the African players who followed in his path such as Steve Mokone, Albert Johanneson, Peter Ndlovu, Christopher Wreh, Lucas Radebe and Didier Drogba, is far from straightforward. Ed Aarons describes how they confronted racism to help change the face of English football forever, enabling the modern generation of superstars like Mane and Salah to flourish.

Detailing their remarkable journeys to Anfield from Senegal and Egypt, Made in Africa also features an exclusive interview with Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp - who broke the transfer record for an African player for the third time in the space of 14 months when he signed Naby Keita for almost GBP53m in August 2017. He explains how the club's African contingent played an integral role in the thrilling climax to the season that ended with them becoming European champions for the sixth time.

About the Author

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.

Reviews

'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 *



Book Information
ISBN 9781909715929
Author Ed Aarons
Format Paperback
Page Count 320
Imprint Arena Sport
Publisher Birlinn General
Weight(grams) 392g
Dimensions(mm) 232mm * 152mm * 22mm