Rashford names Liverpool’s Mane as the Premier League’s best African

Marcus Rashford has revealed that he considers Liverpool superstar Sadio Mane to be the best African player he's encountered in the Premier League.

Taking to social media on Monday evening, the Manchester United forward asked his 4.3-million strong followers to suggest questions for him to reply to during a Twitter Q&A session.

Goal Africa duly responded, and grilled the Red Devils hitman on which African player in the top flight has been the greatest that he’s faced since making his Prem debut in 2015.

“I think there’s some great African talent in [the] league at [the] moment,” Rashford wrote on his @MarcusRashford handle. “Mane particularly.”

It’s remarkable acclaim for the Senegal forward, particularly considering some of the African talents that Rashford has crossed paths with in the top flight.

Since his Premier League career began in 2015, he’s overlapped with some of the continent’s all-time greatest players including Yaya Toure, Mohamed Salah and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, but it’s Mane who got the nod in Monday's Q&A.

Certainly, the former Southampton man has been an overwhelming success in the top flight—and indeed, one of the league’s outstanding players—in the six years since Rashford made his bow in the Prem.

During that period, 28-year-old Mane has won both the league title and the Champions League with Liverpool, while clinching the Prem’s Golden Boot in the 2018-19 season when he scored 22 goals.

While Mane finished fourth in the Ballon d’Or rankings in 2019, he was named African Footballer of the Year in that same year, eclipsing Salah.

On four occasions since 2015, Mane has made the Confederation of African Football’s Team of the Year, while he was also named in the Pfa Team of the Year in 2017, 2019 and 2020.

This year, for the first time since 2018, Rashford’s United appear primed to finish ahead of Mane and Liverpool in the Premier League table.

With nine games to play, the Red Devils sit second on 57 points—14 behind leaders Manchester City—while Liverpool are down in seventh on 46 points.

It's been a disappointing season for the reigning champions, but Mane has nonetheless demonstrated his qualities on occasion this term.

He currently has seven goals in 26 league outings so far, and has also weighed in with four assists.