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| Zaki strokes the winner past City keeper Joe Hart to become the league's top scorer [AFP] |
Amr Hassan Zaki is the latest African striker to make a sensational impact on the English Premier League, topping the scoring charts after arriving from FC Zamalek on a season-long loan.
The big Egyptian is well-known to followers of the national team, having bagged 29 goals in 48 international appearances and winning the African Cup of Nations in 2006 and 2008.
But he has taken English defences completely by surprise after joining unfashionable Wigan Athletic - a team from a northern former mining town who have played in the bottom division most seasons since being elected to the League in 1978.
Few in the country can claim to have heard of Zaki, who scored his fifth Premier League goal of the season in a 2-1 victory over mega-rich Manchester City on Sunday.
Bulldozer
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| Yeboah blazed a trail for African players in the Premier League [GALLO/GETTY] |
That makes it five goals in six matches as 'the Bulldozer' tops the charts - ahead of illustrious rivals John Carew, Nicolas Anelka and Togo's Emmanuel Adebayor.
The latter had a slow start in English football before finding top form for Arsenal last season, but Mansoura-born Zaki's impact has been immediate.
"I've come to England to score goals. That's what I do," Zaki said on arrival.
His power, energy and awesome ability to strike a ball calls to mind the arrival of Ghana's Tony Yeboah before an unsuspecting Leeds United public in 1995.
The African won the 1995/96 Goal of the Season with one of the most breathtaking finishes ever seen in England's top flight, against Wimbledon - with little to choose between it and another awesome strike against Liverpool.
Zaki hasn't quite hit those aesthetic heights yet, although his goals have varied from the spectacular (on debut against West Ham), functional (a late equaliser against Sunderland) and routine - a calmly-stroked penalty for the winner against Abu Dhabi-owned City.
City torment
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| Zaki bulldozes through a challenge for Egypt [GALLO/GETTY] |
Such was the torment of City centre backs Richard Dunne and Micah Richards at the JJB Stadium on Sunday that their Arab bosses may already be thinking of reaching into their pockets to claim the 25-year-old Egyptian for the blue half of Manchester next season.
Zaki is an instant hero in Wigan - with owner Dave Whelan comparing him to England legend Alan Shearer - but his loan from Zamalek contains no guarantee that Latics will be able to sign the player at the end of the season.
And if there's one thing fabulously wealthy owners love, it's strikers. What they love even more is strikers who score goals.
Rocketing price tag
Wigan manager Steve Bruce fought for months to get Zamalek to part with their prize asset, and the Egyptian club will be counting the forward's rocketing value with every match he plays.
A former Blackburn Rovers player whose career ended with injury in the 1960 FA Cup Final, Whelan has since built his own fortune to bankroll the club's rise from the lower divisions.
But his buying power cannot compare with that of the top clubs.
If Zaki keeps it up, there is no doubt that Europe's top clubs will begin to take more than a passing interest in his contractual arrangements.
A superstar could be in the making. In the meantime, Wigan should enjoy, and listen to his opening interview with the club's website in hope.
"I'll make a promise to all the fans that every time I put on a Wigan Athletic shirt I will do everything in my power to do well, try my best and make my new family proud," he said.
The family are already proud. Now they just don't want their favourite son to leave home.
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