Best African players for Sunderland: Will Amad Diallo rank among them?

Amad Diallo is certainly making an impression at Sunderland and following in the footsteps of some notable African players in the process.

It’s fair to say that Amad Diallo has, after a slow start, really started to show his qualify for Sunderland.

Manchester United reportedly paid more than £30million to sign the Ivorian from Atalanta nearly two years ago, although he has failed to make an impression there. That has opened the door for a loan move to Sunderland, and he has really started to shine.

He scored his first goal against Burnley last month and then followed that up with a man-of-the-match display against Luton the following week. He then grabbed another goal in another fine performance in the win at Huddersfield.

Of course, it’s still very early days in his Sunderland career, but it got me thinking about other African players at the club over the years. They have, mostly, been more on the Papy Djilobodji, Kadar Mangane and Benjani end of the scale in truth, but there have been some good’uns in there too.

So, who are the African players to make the biggest impacts at Sunderland over the years?

Reuben Agboola

Speak to Reuben Agboola nowadays, and he is often up in the city supporting the lads, and he will proudly tell you he was the first ever African player to win an international cap while playing for Sunderland.

Agboola was a really underrated Sunderland stalwart who joined the club from Southampton in 1985. He went on to play 170 games for the club in all competitions, mostly at left back, and was a regular in the promotion teams of 1987/88 and 1989/90

Although born in London, he qualified for Nigeria through his father and he played nine times for the Super Eagles, including at the 1992 Africa Cup of Nations.

Sadly, Agboola fell out of love with the Nigerian setup, even walking away from a call-up for a pre-World Cup 1994 squad. 

“They (officials) had let me down many times and I don’t think I was ready for it again," he explained. "I was owed money from the Senegal ’92 AFCON. I would buy tickets to come join the squad for matches and will spend two days running around Lagos to get a refund. Other times I won’t even get it back. 

"They took advantage of my good nature many times. I used to just get fed up and leave the chase for refund and just return to England. No one called me back those times to come collect the money. 

"So when I got the invite to join the camp in Holland for the World Cup I said I wanted what I was owed first before joining up. I never heard back so I stayed put.”

Ahmed Elmohamady

Despite making a really good start for Sunderland on an initial loan deal, Ahmed Elmohamady probably wasn’t the most popular player with the Black Cats supporters.

He arrived in 2010 with an ‘Egyptian David Beckham’ moniker and it’s true he could put in a decent cross. He was also very good in the air himself, although he only managed one goal for Sunderland in his 61 matches.

His inclusion here will probably surprise some supporters, but he was a player who played more than 50 Premier League matches for Sunderland, and he went on to play for another five seasons as a Premier League player after he left Wearside, so fair play to him.

John Mensah

There are some who still name John Mensah among the best defenders they have ever seen at Sunderland, but unfortunately he was also arguably the least durable.

You wouldn’t think that he would be when you looked at him. Mensah had the nickname ‘the Rock of Gibraltar’ and he had a chiselled physique to match. Weirdly, though, it proved pretty much impossible to get a string of matches out of him before another injury took hold.

Indeed, Mensah only managed to play 217 league games in his entire career, with 34 of them coming for Sunderland. It’s probably quite surprising, then, that he managed to amass 86 caps for Ghana in his 11-year international career.

Asamoah Gyan

Everyone loved Asamoah Gyan – until they didn’t. Think Alex Neil, but a Ghanian striker who danced rather than Scottish manager who didn’t (unless Elton John was around).

Gyan arrived at Sunderland after a brilliant World Cup for Ghana in 2010. He made an immediate impact, scoring 10 goals in his debut season. It felt like it was a match made in heaven ad he’d be around for years, then one day he just upped and left for to chase money. It wasn’t Stoke for Gyan, but UAE club Al Ain, who were reportedly paying him £250,000 per week.

“Look, I’m going to be honest here, it was the money,” Gyan admitted in 2019. “I was enjoying my football but Al Ain offered me wages that instantly made me the best-paid footballer in Africa. I couldn’t resist. “

Stephane Sessegnon

If Amad Diallo is going to become Sunderland’s best ever African players, then Stephane Sessegnon is the man he is going to have to displace.

The Benin international arrived from Paris Saint-Germain in January 2011 and he was a hit from the very start with his exciting dribbles and occasionally explosive finishing. He played in a variety of positions for Sunderland over a two-and-a-half year period, eventually making 97 appearances for the club and scoring 18 goals.

He was also plagued by personal problems at the club, though. Shortly before his departure he was arrested after driving an uninsured car whilst drunk. He was shipped off to West Brom, and Sunderland immediately became a much more boring team to watch.

Will Amad Diallo one day rank among them?

I think you'd have to say that it's not an especially tough list to get onto. Sunderland won't likely have Diallo for that long, but Agboola aside the others didn't stick around for long either.

Let's certainly hope that one day we are talking sufficiently fondly about Amad's time at Sunderland to put him at least alongside the names above. In terms of ability, though, he's arguably already up there.