Ndiaye, Globetrotters-Style Moves and Revealing Football Stats

IS THERE REALLY A POSSIBILITY?

If you haven’t seen the clip of Iliman Ndiaye performing a unusual dribbling move at Everton’s training ground, it’s a good watch. In executing a move so spectacular that it would have suited perfectly at a Harlem Globetrotters exhibition match, the skill immediately shut down what was meant to be a casual practice to wrap up what had been – up to that point – an informative discussion about how non-professionals can get another opportunity after being let go from professional academies.

Ndiaye, who played Sunday League football directly before being signed by Sheffield United at 19, is perfectly positioned to discuss this topic. “Don’t focus on the rejection and one day your luck is going to come through,” he informed a young player just before executing said spectacular skill on his opponent, in doing so perfectly illustrating the gap between Premier League and amateur footballers he had been working to minimize.

Ndiaye joins a list of professional footballer to push the boundaries. Prime Michael Owen gleefully humiliating a teenage keeper in front of a smouldering Neville Southall is clearly the benchmark in this unique area – but the ex-Anfield star is just one of many culprits. Both Christian Eriksen and Shinji Kagawa have made young children cry with a series of brutal nutmegs, although it’s believed that the latter was at least driven 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 manners to suffer a loss against 100 children when the trio played during the interval of their last appearance for BVB. A Real Madrid XI that contained Cristiano Ronaldo and Xabi Alonso were not so generous when they faced 109 Chinese kids in a comparable scenario. 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 appear in the Premier League, a stark reality for young players across the country.

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FEATURED STATEMENT

“Soccer carried me but it never left me because I never gave up on my goal. I went from location to location. The passion for soccer carries you. I couldn’t always see where it was leading me. But today I have the solution” – national team manager Veljko Paunovic takes time out from his preparations to reflect on his journey.

FAN FEEDBACK

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