Which continental stars would make an all-time XI of Africans to have featured in Spanish football?
Thomas Nkono
The Cameroon stopper spent nearly a decade in Spain with Espanyol, having earlier achieved success in Africa with Cameroon giants Canon Yaounde.
The two-time African Footballer of the Year is one of the greatest stoppers ever to emerge from the continent, and was a Nations Cup winner with the Indomitable Lions in 1985.
He also represented the Central Africans as first-choice in two World Cups, conceding just once in the 1982 as they bowed out unbeaten.
Lauren
Lauren was still playing in Spain when he won a Nations Cup and Olympics double with Cameroon in 2000.
However, it was only after moving to Arsenal, following spells with Sevilla, Levante and Mallorca, that he truly established himself as one of the finest African players of his generation.
Converted into a full-back by Arsene Wenger, Lauren nabbed two English titles and three FA Cups, and has been immortalised by his place in the Gunners’ Invincibles.
Yaya Toure
Toure left Spain before he’d hit his prime, departing Barcelona for Manchester City in 2010.
He’d already won two Spanish titles and the 2009 Champions League at the time of his departure, but enjoyed his finest years in the Premier League, where he was a key figure in the building of modern Manchester City.
Toure won three titles and the 2011 FA Cup—where he was a key protagonist—at City, and won a record four consecutive African Footballer of the Year awards.
Source: Goal.com
