The European football season is gathering momentum as all the leagues have kicked off in earnest.

A lot of African soccer stars who are scattered all over Europe will be in action this weekend for their respective clubs around the world and Africanewswatch takes a look at some of the continent’s stars as they take to the pitch to show the stuff they are made of.

English Premier League

Thomas Partey – Arsenal and Ghana

Ghanaian vice captain, Thomas Partey and his Arsenal team mates travel to Bournemouth in their third game of the 2022-23 EPL season hoping to maintain their perfect start to the season.

Partey has been in imperious form for the Gunners, leading to the team’s impressive start to the campaign while orchestrating proceedings for Mikel Arteta’s men in the middle of the park.

Partey is expected to once again pull the strings from the deep while protecting the Gunners back four at the Vitality Stadium.

Mohamed Salah – Liverpool and Egypt

Liverpool may have had an indifferent start to the new season which has seen them four points adrift of Manchester City and Arsenal but a strong performance against out of sorts and beleaguered Manchester United promises to be the turning point for Egypt’s captain, Mohamed Salah and his Reds teammates.

Man U is there for the taking and with
Salah leading Liverpool’s attack against Erik Ten Hag’s men who have been in awful form coming from the end of last season, the Pharaoh could be snacking his lips in great anticipation.

Last season, Salah took the Red Devils to the cleaners with a hat trick in a 5-0 annihilation of their fierce rivals and with Man U not able to produce any performance of note, it remains to be seen how they will manage to stop Salah and company.

Yves Bissouma – Tottenham and Mali

Mali midfielder Yves Bissouma has had to start life at new club Tottenham Hotspur from the bench as he has had two substitute appearances in both Premier League games for Hotspur, but if his performances so far is anything to judge by, then he could be on from the start when Wolverhampton Wanderers visit the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Bissouma was a thorn in the flesh of Chelsea players in Spurs’ 2-2 draw at the Stamford Bridge last Sunday and coach Antonio Conte could line him up for his first start against Bruno Lage’s team.

Alex Iwobi – Everton and Nigeria; Taiwo Awoniyi, Emmanuel Dennis – Nottingham Forest and Nigeria

The clash between Everton who have remained winless and pointless in two matches, and EPL new comers, Nottingham Forest, is likely to pitch three Nigerian stars against each other.

While Frank Lampard is likely to field Alex Iwobi for Everton, Taiwo Awoniyi and his international teammate, Emmanuel Dennis, would be on the opposite side at the Merseyside.

Coming from making Forests history by scoring the team’s first EPL goal in 23 years, Awoniyi would be looking to consolidate on his fine start to the season while Dennis would be hoping to continue his goal rush after netting 10 for relegated Watford last season if he gets to play.

Joe Aribo – Southampton and Nigeria; Wilfred Ndidi, Kelechi Iheanacho- Leicester and Nigeria

Another clash which will pitch Nigerian stars against each other will be at the King Power Stadium where the duo of Wilfred Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho of Leicester City welcome Joe Aribo and his Southampton teammates.

Last weekend, Aribo played a vital role in the Saints 2-2 draw with Leeds United, scoring a goal as Southampton came back from 2-0 down to square up.

The former Rangers of Scotland midfielder is likely to be retained by Ralph Hasenhuttl forSaturday’s trip to Leicester City while Ndidi who made his first start in the 4-2 demolition by Arsenal, is likely to get a start following his performance at the Emirate Stadium.

Iheanacho will hope that his performance in the 4-2 defeat where he assisted James Maddison’s goal will be enough to convince manager Brendan Rodgers to involve him in the match.

Spanish La Liga

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – Barcelona and Gabon; Frank Kessie – Ivory Coast

Thecm former Gabonese captain, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang came off the bench in Barcelona’s first game of the season which ended in a disappointing stalemate with Rayo Vallecano, while Ivorian midfielder, Frank Kessie did not make an appearance as Barca had not registered him prior to the kick off of the season.

With his future in the club still shrouded in uncertainty, Aubameyang could still be in line for a start while Kessie may start from the bench for Sunday’s game in San Sebastian.

Barca have won the last three games between the clubs, claiming 1-0 and 6-1 victories on the road in that run, with Aubameyang netting the only goal in April’s meeting.

Samuel Chukwueze – Villareal

Nigerian winger, Samuel Chukwueze and his Villarreal teammates travel to Atletico Madrid looking to secure a positive result after their 3-0 defeat over Real Valladolid in their first match of the season.

Chukwueze made his bow when he was introduced with 30 minutes to play and it is likely he may start from the bench again at Wanda Metropolitano.

Italian Serie A

Victor Osimhen – Napoli and Nigeria

Victor Osimhen scored and made one assist as Napoli defeated Hellas Verona 3-0 in the first game of the season.

The Super Eagles marksman will be a handful for newly promoted Monza on Sunday as Luciano Spalletti’s men look to give the likes of Inter Milan and AC Milan an early run.

Having started the new campaign in fine form, the Eagles attacker will back himself to put the new boys to the sword.

French Ligue 1

Moses Simon – Nantes and Nigeria

Moses Simon and his Nantes team are unbeaten after two games this season, and will look to consolidate in their fine start to the 2022-23 season.

The Nigerian winger has already opened his goal account for the season and as Nantes travel to Olympique Marseille, he will be looking forward to giving another performance to claim their first victory of the season.

Achraf Hakimi – PSG and Morocco

Moroccan wing-back, Achraf Hakimi and his Paris Saint-Germain teammates will be hoping to pick up all three points when they host Lille on Sunday with manager Christophe Galtier aiming to go past his former club.

Hakimi has had a strong start to the season playing in the first two matches and will hope to continue in such spectacular fashion on Sunday.

German Bundesliga

Sadio Mane – Bayern Munich and Senegal

Former Liverpool frontman, Sadio Mane may have had a below par performance by his standards in when he failed to find the back of the net in
Bayern Munich’s 2-0 success over Wolfsburg last weekend.

But the Senegal striker will be out to redeem himself when Bayern play struggling Bochum on Sunday to atone for his miss in the Wolfsburg match where he missed a sitter in front of a gaping net.