Ndiaye, Globetrotters-Style Skills and Sobering Football Statistics

IS THERE REALLY A POSSIBILITY?

If you haven’t seen the clip of Iliman Ndiaye pulling off a unusual dribbling move at Everton’s training ground, it’s worth viewing. Through performing a move so spectacular that it would have suited perfectly at a Harlem Globetrotters exhibition match, the skill instantly ended what was meant to be a lighthearted kickabout to finish what had been – up to that point – an informative discussion about how amateur players can earn a second chance after being dropped from professional academies.

Ndiaye, who competed in amateur leagues directly before being picked up by Sheffield United at 19, is ideally suited to address this topic. “Don’t focus on the rejection and one day your luck is going to come through,” he informed a young player immediately prior to deploying said spectacular skill on his victim, in doing so clearly demonstrating the gulf between Premier League and amateur footballers he had been working to minimize.

Ndiaye is far from the only professional footballer to push the boundaries. Prime Michael Owen happily embarrassing a young shot-stopper in front of a annoyed Neville Southall is obviously the gold standard in this particular niche – but the ex-Anfield star is not alone in this. Both Christian Eriksen and Shinji Kagawa have made young children cry with a series of brutal nutmegs, although it’s considered that the latter was at least driven by the Japanese player’s social media regretful message – “difficulty breeds resilience” – and the related tag of #friendship.

Kagawa’s ex-BVB colleagues Lukasz Piszczek, Jakub Blaszczykowski and Nuri Sahin at least had the decency to be defeated against 100 children when the trio played during the interval of their farewell game for BVB. A Real Madrid XI that featured 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 estimated that only 180 of the 1.5 million boys currently playing structured junior soccer in England will ever play in the Premier League, a sobering statistic for toddlers and teenagers across the country.

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DAILY HIGHLIGHT

“The game guided me but it never deserted me because I never abandoned my dream. I went from location to location. The love of football drives you. I couldn’t always see where it was directing me. But today I have the understanding” – head coach Veljko Paunovic takes time out from his training to share his career.

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