Idrissa Gueye of Aston Villa in
action during the Barclays Premier League 2015 match between Liverpool
and Aston Villa © Getty Images
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Gueye was seen as a good replacement for Fabian Delph who moved to Manchester City this summer. Manager Tim Sherwood has backed the African to succeed at the club. ‘What Idrissa gives you is hundred per cent every time he plays. He is wholehearted, he suits the Premier League and he loves the pace of the game.
‘He is very aggressive; he gets at people, wants to tackle and wants to get on the football. He is brave in and out of possession – and that’s something you want to see. We are really pleased with him. He has been outstanding.’
And this seems to be proving true despite Aston Villa’s poor form. Gueye has been more impressive than Delph last season in defence, averaging four tackles and 3.6 interceptions per game. And for both categories, he’s up there with the top five Premier League players.
Chancel Mbemba of Newcastle in
action during the Barclays Premier League 2015 match between Sunderland
AFC and Newcastle United FC at the Stadium of Light © Getty Images
Chancel Mbemba has continued to impress in his performance thus far for Newcastle. It’s just a pity they couldn’t spell his name right:
He was recently named best performing under-21 centre-back by the CIES Football Observatory.
Mbemba has been capped a grand total of 17 times for the Democratic Republic of Congo senior team.
Mohamed El Ouriachi in action
during the UEFA Youth League Round of 16 match between RSC Anderlecht
and FC Barcelona in 2015 © Getty Images
Stoke chief executive Tony Scholes said: ‘He’s excited about joining a Premier League club, especially one that already has two former Barcelona players in their squad. Moha has seen the progress made by Bojan and Marc and wants to try and do likewise.’
The 19-year-old winger played for Spain at youth level but has also been selected by Morocco for their under-23 team.
Rudy Gestede of Aston Villa
celebrates scoring his team’s second goal during the Barclays Premier
League 2015 match between Liverpool and Aston Villa at Anfield © Getty
Images
Gestede played internationally for France at under-19 level between 2006 to 2008, before switching international allegiance to Benin where he has since scored three goals in six appearances for the national team.
He is also eligible to play for the United States of America through a grandparent. He scored a goal in his debut outing for Aston Villa in the game against AFC Bournemouth where he came in as a substitute.
And finally, did you know that Gestede runs energy drinks company No Limit?
‘I like to have something other than
football to keep my mind busy,’ he said. ‘We are concentrating on
selling in Africa now as there aren’t as many energy drinks and our
price is cheaper than Red Bull.’
Yohan Benalouane playing for
Atalanta during the Serie A match between Atalanta BC and Empoli FC at
Stadio Atleti Azzurri d’Italia in 2015 © Getty Images
He made his first team debut for Leicester City as a substitute during a 4-2 victory over Sunderland, while he also played the full 90 minutes in the development squad’s 1-1 home draw with Manchester United in August. The development squad manager of the team, Steve Beaglehole, said of Benalouane, ‘He looks a good acquisition’.
Too right.
Bakary Sako of Crystal Palace
and Ashley Westwood of Aston Villa compete for the ball during the
Barclays Premier League 2015 match between Crystal Palace and Aston
Villa © Getty Images
It is not difficult to see why the fans love him: he scored the second-winning goal for Palace on his full debut against Aston Villa on August 22 and then scored again alongside teammate Joel Ward the following week away to Chelsea, in a 2-1 win, which was Jose Mourinho’s second-ever loss at Stamford Bridge. He’s played 14 games for Mali putting 6 goals in net for the team.
Baba Rahman getting tackled by
Tal Ben Haim II of Maccabi Tel Aviv during a UEFA Champions League match
between Chelsea and Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC 2015 © Getty Images
In the game against Dynamo Kiev on November 4, Mourinho started with Rahman, allowing Azpilicueta to move to right-back. The result suggested it was a good move.
This is part of a phenomenal rise in his career; he was playing for Asante Kotoko in the Ghanaian League only three years ago. Luckily forMourinho, he says his target is to win trophies for Chelsea.
‘My main aim is to win trophies for the club. Obviously Chelsea won the Premier League last season and I hope we can repeat that, and do even more. That’s what I hope to achieve.’
Jordan Ayew during the Capital
One Cup Fourth Round match between Southampton and Aston Villa at St
Mary’s Stadium in October 2015 © Getty Images
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Prior to his move to the English Premier League, the striker had spent his entire professional career in France, moving through the ranks from Lyon Duchère to Marseille, then Sochaux before settling at Lorient from where he transferred to Villa.
Though he found the back of the net 12 times in 31 games for Lorient, he wasn’t as prolific in his first two months at Aston Villa. He’s improved recently, though, scoring against Tottenham Hotspur and against his brother’s side Swansea where he had an epic match: a goal, five shots, and a pass-accuracy percentage of 88.
Papy Mison Djilobodji of Senegal
at the FIFA 2014 World Cup Qualifier Play-off Second Leg between
Senegal and Ivory Coast in 2013 © Getty Images
However, he wasn’t included in their 25-man squad for the UEFA Champions League group stages and has instead been included in their Premier League side.
The Senegalese player signed a four-year contract with the Blues and has taken the No. 15 shirt. But the lack of playing time so far means that Papy has had a lot of time to relax.
It’s the Senegalese national team who have been keeping the centre-back busy. He has been capped 13 times.
Andre Ayew of Swansea City
during the Barclays Premier League 2015 match between Swansea City and
Arsenal at Liberty Stadium © Getty Images
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25-year-old Ayew joined the Swans on a four-year deal with a signing-on fee of £5.7m making him the highest-paid player at Swansea, reportedly receiving about £60,000 a week. He seems to be earning his keep as he won Swansea’s best player of the month of October. Ayew is definitely one to watch out for and has just been nominated for the Confederation of African Football player of the year award.
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