Senegal front man made in Britain and loved in Sheffield

For Sheffield United fans, when England line up against Senegal on Sunday, there will be torn emotions. Because, among the Lions of

Teranga, there will be one of their own. Iliman Ndiaye, the prodigy the club picked up from nonleague football, has been magnificent for Aliou Cisse’s side as they qualified from Group A.

This has come as no surprise to

regulars at Bramall Lane, where the young forward has been electrifying the crowd all season.

“They love him,” Kevin Cookson, the Sheffield United press officer, says. “They already have two songs for him. He is the best we’ve had in an age. Of all the players to be developed here – Aaron Ramsdale, Phil Jagielka, Kyle Walker, Dom Calvertlewin, Harry Maguire – this lad could be the best of the lot.”

Which is not something that was said when, as a 16-year-old, he went

for a trial at Reading. There, he was told bluntly he was not going to make it as a footballer, and that he should try something else.

Ndiaye’s journey to the last 16 of the World Cup is remarkable. He was born in Rouen in France, his father from Senegal, his mother French. It was a big, boisterous family: Ndiaye has seven sisters and a brother. He was soon playing football on the streets, his father adding modern training techniques. There is footage taken by his father of him

running across a playground in Rouen strapped to a parachute.

Wanted by Paris St-germain and Marseille as a youngster, he was on his way to the Marseille academy at the age of nine when the family moved to Senegal. When he was 14, his father took a job in south London. The family decamped and, despite not speaking a word of English, he was soon starring in games of cage football. Word got out. He was invited to camps at Chelsea and Reading, and a development course

at Southampton. But, reckoned by many academies as too unschooled in the game, there was no offer. It appeared he was going to end up as another missed talent.

But when he left school at 16, he joined the Pase Academy at nonleague Boreham Wood, where he combined his football with courses in trades, including bricklaying, at Barnet and Southgate College.

He was spotted by Boreham Wood’s first-team manager Luke Garrard, who invited him to train

with them. “He was always a standout,” Garrard recalls. “He has great balance, and the way he caresses the ball is a thing of beauty.”

But he never made a League appearance. Largely because Sheffield United moved in after scouting the player through footage on Youtube of him playing for the Rising Ballers freestyle troupe. This is how far clubs throw their nets. He was invited to Bramall Lane and – even with Chelsea keen – he was signed up. He was then sent out on

loan to non-league Hyde United, to toughen him up.

Paul Heckingbottom, in his first game as manager, in March 2021, gave Ndiaye his debut. When the Championship was paused for the World Cup, he was the joint leading scorer in the division, just 18 months after playing in the Northern Premier League.

“Sure, we want England to win,” Garrard says. “If we score three and Iliman gets one for them, that would be the perfect result for us.”