Tony Yeboah: Ghana legend surprisingly left out of English Premier League's top 100 players of all-time

By Akyereko Frimpong Manson
Follow Akyereko on Twitter: @ AkyerekOfficial
Leeds United might have ex-Ghana forward Anthony Yeboah as a cult hero and probably the club's best foreign player of all-time but he would not be in the English Premier League's all-time best 100 players. 

The British Telegraph put together a panel of pundits to pick top 100 players of all-time in the English top-flight league and they found only four African players fit in the roaster, excluding Leeds United's legendary hit-man Tony Yeboah.

Well, he is not the only Ghanaian conspicuously missing out of the list –  Michael Essien also fail to make their grades. Yaya Toure is believed to have made a bigger impact than the Ghanaian star who earned his name with West London side Chelsea.

Writer Henry Winter, ex-England international Alan Smith, Jason Burt, Mark Ogden, Jeremy Wilson, Chris Bascombe, Luke Edwards, Jim White and Jonathan Liew think other African players have made bigger impact than Yeboah and simply overlooked him.

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba is the highest placed in the list, finishing 15th while his countryman Yaya Toure also made the top 20 by finishing in 19th place.

The other African stars in the top 100 are South African great Lucas Radebe, 78th, who also played at Leeds United and, Nigeria's Jay-Jay Okocha, who crept inside the top 100 in 93rd spot.

Yeboah spent two seasons at the Elland Road scoring over 33 goals in 66 appearances for the Whites.

He was voted Player of the Year; the club's first-ever non-British Player of the Year. Yeboah scored a total of 32 goals for Leeds United in 66 appearances, and is still revered as a cult hero for the Yorkshire club due to a series of memorable goals he scored.

His volley against Liverpool and his strike against Wimbledon in the 1995–96 season were among his notable goals and he was a regular feature in Goal of the Month in the Premier League.

CRITIQUE
Both Radebe and Yeboah played at Leeds United, as a matter of fact, the South African spent his entire career abroad at the Elland Road, making 201 appearances in 11 years. It is obvious Yeboah made a bigger influence at Leeds United and the gravity of his talent and thrill far surpasses that of the former South African international defender.

Radebe's stats puts him at 18 appearances on the average per his 11 season spell while Yeboah's stand at 33, scoring in at least every two games for Leeds.