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Everton talisman Iliman Ndiaye has admitted that several Premier League clubs turned down the chance to sign him as a youngster.
The forward has enjoyed a magnificent maiden season at Goodison Park.
Signed for £17 million from Marseille, he has scored nine goals in 30 appearances. Given it is Ndiaye’s first real taste of regular football in the English top flight, he is set to only improve.
The Senegal international, 25, did not have a straightforward pathway to professional football.
He was born in France and was part of Marseille’s academy before moving across the Channel.
Yet there were no clubs who wanted to snap up Ndiaye.
Speaking to Everton’s club media, he revealed that Premier League rivals Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Crystal Palace and Southampton all rejected him – some telling his father he would never make it as a professional.
It was non-league side Boreham Wood who gave him his chance before he finally earned switch to Sheffield United in 2019. Ndiaye said:
“I was in a lot of football camps.
When I first came to England, my first football camp was at Manchester United.
I went on trial at Southampton, Reading, Tottenham, Chelsea, Crystal Palace and the reason was… I used to be very small and it was either you’re small or we have similar players.
People told my dad to his face that he’s never going to be a football player. But I wasn’t bothered.
“In London, there is a lot of football players who chose Southampton and if you’re good enough, you go all the way to do a trial. For two or three years, they never rang me.
Everyone was saying why haven’t they brought you in yet. They brought me in for trials but at the end, they told me they were not going to sign me.
I got emotional… but I always knew it was going to happen.
“I joined a footballing school. To be able to do that, you’re supposed to have the grades but I couldn’t do it.
The manager rang the manager of Boreham Wood and I ended up staying there. I did education and football.”
Everton were keen to sign Ndiaye in the summer of 2023 after he spearheaded Sheffield United’s promotion back to the Premier League.
He plundered 15 goals and 12 assists in 52 games. He could not resist a dream return to Marseille, although it did not turn out to be the fairytale he hoped for.
Ndiaye managed to score four times and created five but left for Everton the following year.
It was the faith that the Toffees continued to show in him as to why he opted to make the switch to Merseyside – and he is reaped the benefits.
Ndiaye added: “It was a big decision to leave Sheffield United after they just got promoted to join my boyhood club but it was worth it.
“I didn’t have the best time at Marseille but when a club is interested in a long time and still believed me and knew what I could do, there was no reason why I should join another club other than Everton.”
