MOTD Top 10: African players in Premier League

The Match of the Day Top 10 podcast is back… nearly.

Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and Micah Richards will return in the spring with their latest series of the BBC Sounds hit, ranking their top 10s from an assortment of topics across the Premier League era.

But we're giving you an early chance to get involved, by letting you pick your top three for each of the upcoming shows, and the trio will get to see your choices before they record the pod.

Today, the subject is: Premier League's best African players.

«It was so difficult in the end to get the selection down to 10 names, as it is with most of these lists,» Lineker told BBC Sport.

«There have been some brilliant African players in the Premier League down the years, including some of the biggest stars we watch today.

»There were not many African footballers in England when I was a player, but they have become more and more of an influence on our game, and in a hugely positive way.

«There are so many huge talents who have been unbelievably successful in our game and, importantly, have also helped to prove that harmonious diversity within dressing rooms is very much a part of English football.

»Football often gets a lot of stick for racist issues but the game itself, inside dressing rooms and within clubs, is a shining example of how different people from different parts of the world can integrate and get on."

Rank your favourite African Premier League players

Emmanuel Adebayor played for four Premier League teams — Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham and Crystal Palace — and scored an impressive 97 times in 242 games.

He was named BBC's African Footballer of the Year in 2007, but never won a trophy in English football, losing in the 2007 League Cup final with the Gunners and being an