what would your name be?

Check it  out: BrazilName

Funny things happen all the time in football. One of them, that stands out and I have always remembered, was Ali Dia’s one and only Premier League appearance in the 1995/96 season. What happened was, Graeme Souness, the manager of Southampton at the time, received a phone call supposedly from former world player of the year, George Weah, claiming our mate Ali here, a Senegalese International was the next big thing in world football. An undiscovered talent, as they say. So Souness gave the bloke a chance on trial for a week.

Matt Le Tissier, Southampton’s legendary striker, has even admitted he thought Ali was not up to much during his week’s trial and was not expecting to see much of him in the near future. To Le Tissier’s surprise, Souness named Ali on the bench for a clash with Leeds United. On the 32^nd minute, Le Tissier got injured and was subbed off for…..guess who…..yup that’s it, the one and only Ali Dia. After he ran about like a headless chicken for 53 minutes, Souness then thought, as did the rest of the fans watching….my god he’s shit! Ali was then subbed off and was never to be seen anywhere near the Premier League again. He did manage to stay in football for a bit with Gateshead, where he also struggled to get a game.

Funny thing is, it was clearly not George Weah on the phone, and it was some mystery man that Ali Dia suspicially didn’t even know himself! And of course, he was never a Senegal International. Still, you’ve got to give it to him for trying!