For Iliman Ndiaye, it was impossible to say no. When the club where he spent a year in the renowned academy, before being forced to leave when his family moved to Senegal, came calling in the summer, the softly spoken forward had little hesitation despite having guided Sheffield United back to the Premier League.
“It started when I was five years old and I was given my first football kit; it was a Marseille shirt,” said Ndiaye with a distinctive north London twang. “But that’s not the only thing that makes me love this club. The fans, the crazy atmosphere in the stadium … I’ve always dreamed of playing in front of them. And the great players that I’ve seen playing for Marseille. It made me want to become like them.”
