Iliman Ndiaye, Harlem Globetrotters-Style Skills and Sobering Football Stats

YOU’RE TELLING US THERE’S A CHANCE?

Unless you’ve missed the clip of Iliman Ndiaye performing a backwards bouncing trick at Everton’s training ground, it’s a good watch. By pulling off a move so nasty that it would have suited perfectly at a Harlem Globetrotters exhibition match, the skill quickly concluded what was meant to be a casual practice to finish what had been – up to that point – an revealing conversation about how Sunday league footballers can earn a second chance after being let go from professional academies.

Ndiaye, who featured in non-league games directly before being recruited by Sheffield United at 19, is perfectly positioned to discuss this topic. “Don’t concentrate on the rejection and one day your luck is going to materialize,” he informed a young player just before using said spectacular skill on his victim, in doing so clearly demonstrating the gulf between Premier League and amateur footballers he had been attempting to dispel.

Ndiaye is far from the only professional footballer to take things that little bit too far. Prime Michael Owen gleefully humiliating a 13-year-old goalkeeper in front of a annoyed Neville Southall is undoubtedly the prime example in this particular niche – but the one-time Reds forward is not alone in this. Both Christian Eriksen and Shinji Kagawa have reduced toddlers to actual tears with a series of harsh skills, although it’s considered that the latter was at least motivated by the Japanese player’s social media apologetic post – “setbacks build character” – and the related tag of #friendship.

Kagawa’s ex-BVB colleagues Lukasz Piszczek, Jakub Blaszczykowski and Nuri Sahin at least had the good grace to be defeated against 100 children when the trio competed during the half-time break of their final match for BVB. A Real Madrid XI that featured Cristiano Ronaldo and Xabi Alonso were not so generous when they took on 109 Chinese kids in a similar experiment. But back to the start, it’s calculated that only 180 of the 1.5 million boys currently playing competitive youth leagues in England will ever play in the Premier League, a stark reality for young players across the country.

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“The game guided me but it never abandoned me because I never gave up on my goal. I went from place to place. The passion for soccer propels you. I couldn’t always see where it was taking me. But today I have the solution” – head coach Veljko Paunovic makes time from his training to reflect on his journey.

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