Ndiaye, Harlem Globetrotters-Style Moves and Revealing Soccer Statistics

COULD IT ACTUALLY HAPPEN?

Should you have overlooked the video of Iliman Ndiaye executing a reverse bouncing nutmeg at Everton’s training ground, it’s worth viewing. Through performing a move so nasty that it would have fit right in at a Harlem Globetrotters show game, the skill quickly concluded what was meant to be a informal game to finish what had been – up to that point – an revealing conversation about how non-professionals can earn a second chance after being let go from professional academies.

Ndiaye, who competed in amateur leagues directly before being signed by Sheffield United at 19, is perfectly positioned to discuss this topic. “Avoid dwelling on the rejection and one day your luck is going to materialize,” he informed a young player just before using said impressive trick on his teammate, in doing so vividly showing the difference between Premier League and amateur footballers he had been trying to bridge.

Ndiaye joins a list of professional footballer to go slightly overboard. Prime Michael Owen happily embarrassing a young shot-stopper in front of a smouldering Neville Southall is undoubtedly the prime example in this specific category – but the one-time Reds forward is far from the only offender. Both Christian Eriksen and Shinji Kagawa have made young children cry with a series of harsh skills, although it’s believed that the latter was at least motivated by the Japanese player’s social media disgrace caption – “setbacks build character” – and the associated label of #friendship.

Kagawa’s former Dortmund teammates Lukasz Piszczek, Jakub Blaszczykowski and Nuri Sahin at least had the decency to suffer a loss against 100 children when the three played during the half-time break of their final match for BVB. A Real Madrid XI that contained Cristiano Ronaldo and Xabi Alonso showed less mercy when they played against 109 Chinese kids in a like situation. But returning to the beginning, it’s calculated that only 180 of the 1.5 million boys currently playing structured junior soccer in England will ever play in the Premier League, a harsh truth for toddlers and teenagers across the country.

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