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Meet Raphael Dwamena, the Ghanaian striker with 30 goals in Europe this season

Dwamena is the most prolific Ghanaian anywhere in the world this season

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Meet Raphael Dwamena, the most prolific Ghanaian footballer anywhere in the world this season.

No Ghanaian - at home or abroad - has had a better season than the 22-year-old, who has ruled supreme in penalty boxes across Austria and Switzerland this season.

It's been goal after goal, impressive performance after impressive performance - a run that has seen him score 30 goals in 37 games across all competitions in the 2016/17 season.

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Shining in Zurich

His milestone 30th goal - which is a rare achievement for a Ghanaian striker plying his trade in Europe - came on Saturday as his club FC Zurich cruised to a 3-0 away league win against Winterthur.

The lanky, left-footed marksman scored in added time, complementing earlier goals from Moussa Kone and Oliver Buff.

It was Dwamena's 9th league goal in 14 league appearances in the Swiss Challenge League. In all, he has featured 15 times in all competitions for the Zurich-based side since joining at the end of January.

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Since arriving at the Letzigrund, he has played in all 15 games FC Zurich has played, scoring an astonishing 25% of the club's goals (9 out of 36).

His performances have fired the club's hopes of earning promotion into the Swiss top flight (Super League). With four matches to go, FC Zurich is in pole position to qualify back into the big time with a commanding nine-point lead at the top.

History

Born in Nkawkaw in the Eastern Region of Ghana, Dwamena began his career at the Sogakope-based Red Bull Ghana Academy in 2011.

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In 2014, aged 17, he landed a move to the academy's main club in Austria - Red Bull Salzburg. He joined the club's U-18 squad and immediately shone, grabbing the golden shoe award in a youth tournament in June 2014 with four goals in seven games.

Impressed and wanting to give him some experience to sharpen his potential, Salzburg loaned him out to FC Liefering, their farm team.

Unfortunately, Dwamena struggled to live up to the pressure of his promise at Liefering, and after two seasons, 27 games and six goals, he was let go by Salzburg.

The young striker decided on FC Austria Lustenau to rediscover his form, joining them on a free ahead of the 2016/17 season.

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It was a decision he would not regret: Dwamena was so good that he didn't last past half the season, as his goal scoring form attracted interest from many teams.

He scored 21 goals in 22 games for Austria Lustenau across the Austrian Football First League and Austrian Cup, a streak that led FC Zurich to offer him a lucrative deal to move to Switzerland.

Black Stars

Despite his form, Dwamena infamously missed out on Ghana's final squad for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon after being part of a preliminary provisional squad.

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"I wasn’t disappointed much because I felt like I still have time to develop, that I still have time to learn," he told Pulse Sports of his snubbing.

"It was a lesson for me to learn and train harder so that next time when I’m called I will be able to prove myself well."

If he keeps his current momentum, Dwamena won't be far away from that next call, as new Ghana coach Kwesi Appiah prepares for a friendly against the US in July.

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