After Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Ismaila Sarr, OM have registered a new reinforcement in attack. This is the 23-year-old Senegalese Iliman Ndiaye, who has signed for the next five seasons with the Marseille club from Sheffield United. Discover 5 things to know about the Marseille rookie.
Like the tennis Williams sisters (Serena and Venus), Iliman Ndiaye’s father (Abdoulaye) always knew his son would have a special history with football. He understood it from the age of 4 years of the son. “From 4 to 9 years old I was trained by my father” has already declared the 23-year-old Senegalese. A choreographer and designer father who took him through hurdles and obstacles, before teaching him some dance steps to improve his coordination. The native of Rouen quickly became an attraction and began to be talked about thanks in part to the videos his father was shooting to impress recruiters, while he sometimes trains in the forest after school, very often. to run. The one who has always had the dribble in mind and in the feet, watched DVDs of Ronaldinho, Ronaldo or Rivaldo before going to bed.
Trained as a pro at Sheffield United, Ndiaye will not set foot in Marseille for the first time in his life. Indeed, between 2011 and 2012 he already went through the OM training center which he had to leave to go to Senegal. But his love for OM never changed him who kept reminding him that he wanted to play for Marseille. This summer, Everton came knocking at his door to recruit him but the player did not really consider the Toffees’ offer, preferring to give priority to OM.
Despite a childhood on the side of Normandy, where he began football in the club of the Sapins district in Rouen, the young Iliman then knew Marseille for a year, then Senegal and England. After Marseille, he goes to Dakar to live with his grandmother. An opportunity for his father to make him discover another environment and a very enriching African daily life. “It was an important period. Because I discovered a new football but also because it nourished me to experience a new culture. That of my family,” admitted Iliman. Later he left to live in England because of the work of his father, more precisely in London. Ndiaye carries out training camps for Chelsea, Tottenham, Man Utd or Reading but again nothing conclusive. It is finally in Southampton that he knows more success. Sheffield are very interested and signed him to the pros at 19 in 2019.
The future of Iliman Ndiaye was not necessarily all mapped out. “A recruiter once said to my father, ‘He’ll never be pro. I never considered failure.” However, last season Sheffield Utd’s top scorer (15 goals and 12 assists in 52 games in all competitions) allowed his club to finish runners-up in the Championship (English D2). Sheffield thus rose to the Premier League and Ndiaye was elected in the 11 type of Championship. Sheffield also voted him the club’s best player.
In connection with his origins, the new OM striker decided without hesitation to play for Senegal, from his first season as a professional. It is in 2022 for the qualifications for the CAN 2023 and the preparation for the 2022 World Cup that Iliman Ndiaye is called to the Teranga Lions by Aliou Cissé for the first time, with the recent African champions (2022). He made his first steps there against Benin on June 4, 2022 in a 3-0 victory. Result of the races, his performances allow him to participate in the World Cup in Qatar with Senegal. In total, he played 7 games with the Senegalese selection for a goal scored (against Mozambique during the qualifications for the CAN).
