Pan-Africa Football has taken a look at over thirty African players who began their career in African football and in a series of columns we will evaluate how the subjects of our first twenty scouting reports have progressed since we evaluated them. In the first part of the series we examine where the very first players we scouted and how they are performing at their current clubs. Below the players featured were scouted in June and July of 2020:

KV Oostende- Belgian Pro League

Rangers- Scottish Premiership

Pan-Africa Football’s first ever scouting report focused on the exciting and electric Fashion Sakala, who has moved on to a bigger stage with Scottish powerhouse Rangers and featured as a substitute in the 2021-22 UEFA Europa League final. The 25-year-old has certainly improved since his early days in Europe with Belgian club Oostende and earned his free transfer away following a 2020-21 season with sixteen goals, but many of the same issues still remain. As a pure striker who has not shown himself to be a versatile option capable of playing on the wing, Sakala did not do enough last season at the top of the formation for Rangers and has only played a minute so far in the 2022-23 season with new signing Antonio Colak grabbing his opportunity in the lineup.

Sakala is still an exciting player as proven by his statistics last season that saw him rank highly in attacking duels, dribble attempts/90 and success when engaging defenders in the Scottish Premiership. However, his efficiency on scoring opportunities was not good enough for a Rangers side that failed to defend their 2020-21 title and Sakala failed to score in all thirteen matches he took part in during Rangers’ campaign in UEFA club competition. The striker is capable of thriving but moving to a team that expects to win their domestic title every season and compete in UEFA competition appears to be too steep of a level for Fashion.

IFK Göteborg- Swedish Allsvenskan

Royal Antwerp- Belgian Pro League

The 22-year-old is progressing steadily, completing a $1.1 million move to Royal Antwerp and starting regularly for a team that finished in fourth place during the 2021-22 season since we scouted him while he was playing for Swedish club IFK Göteborg. There is probably still a bit more progress for the central midfielder to make until he can be “ready to compete for playing time in a top-4 league” as we described him but he is certainly not far off at this point. Another season in Belgium is a perfect place and level for Yusuf to develop and prove that he is ready to make another jump up in quality.

Yusuf’s statistics from the 2021-22 season show that his passing efficiency remains at a high level while still rarely attempting to venture out of his comfort zone. As a deep-lying midfielder Yusuf proved himself as a capable player in his first season but will need to show notable improvements in his defensive activity and will need to move from the top-20 numbers he showed to the top-10 in passing efficiency in order to stand out. He certainly is right on the verge of proving himself as worthy of a move to one of Europe’s top-4 leagues.

Club Brugge- Belgian Pro League

Bayer Leverkusen- German Bundesliga

The tall center back was just getting his first opportunities with Club Brugge when we scouted him and was often being played out of position as a right back early on, but we recognized his exciting physical profile and that Kossounou could rapidly improve into “potentially a Champions League level player in a year or two”. Two full seasons later with Brugge along with a $25.3 million move to Bayer Leverkusen before the 2021-22 season, the now 21-year-old is set to spend his fourth consecutive season in UEFA club competition and third in the Champions League but has fierce competition for starting minutes.

Kossounou has yet to fully thrive at Leverkusen and it appears he is still regarded as a player with potential more than proven ability at this point. He statistically ranked in the bottom half in most categories among center backs during the 2021-22 season and will have to earn his starting spot back after Leverkusen brought in another promising center back, Ecuadorian Piero Hincapie. The Ivorian continues to show signs, however, and is still young with a high amount of experience already at 21.

Zulte Waregem (on loan from Red Bull Salzburg)- Belgian Pro League

Auxerre- French Ligue 1

The former WAFA SC youth product and left back is a good case study for African players who have moved to top Austrian side Red Bull Salzburg early in their career. Mensah played for Salzburg’s reserve team FC Liefering for two and a half seasons before four spells on loan, drawing praise from us for his attacking ability but criticism for suspect defending when we scouted him during his second loan spell at Belgian club Zulte Waregem.

Mensah, now 24, just earned a move to recently promoted Auxerre in France’s Ligue 1 after featuring regularly for Bordeaux on loan as the club was relegated from Ligue 1 for the first time in over thirty years. The statistics from his time at Bordeaux show that Mensah is still the same player as when we scouted him, ranking in the top-10 among left backs in crosses/90, crossing accuracy, dribbles/90 and successful dribbles. However he ranked in the bottom-10 in percentage of defensive duels won, interceptions/90 and was high on the list in fouls committed.

Paradou AC- Algeria Ligue 1 Professionnelle

Charleroi- Belgian Pro League

Zorgane was clearly destined for European club football considering he was one of the most highly regarded players in Algeria’s Ligue 1 Professionnelle before he had turned twenty years of age. However, a lack of pace left the question of how he would fare when Belgian top tier side Charleroi spent $2.2 million to purchase Zorgane in June 2021. The now 22-year-old has been an undoubted success in Belgium, playing nearly every match for Charleroi since and progressing into a role with the Algeria national team since making his debut soon after arriving in Europe.

Over the past year Zorgane ranks as one of the best passers in the Belgian Pro League, placing second among central midfielders in progressive passes per ninety minutes. Zorgane also ranks fourth in forward passes per 90 and is seventh in assists/90, making him a crucial part of the Charleroi attack and a reliable player despite having to adjust to a higher level of play.