Another Senegalese Liverpool Winger
It looks like Sidy Barhama Ndiaye will be Liverpool’s next academy signing.
Liverpool have developed quite the connection with Africa’s most western nation, Senegal, since the turn of the millennium.
One of the club’s modern icons, Sadio Mané, is ultimately draped in the vibrant tricolour of the Senegalese flag during the immediate on-pitch celebrations of Liverpool’s Champions League triumph in Madrid. With 112 total Premier League goals across spells at Southampton and LFC, Sadio is comfortably the nation’s largest source of goals on our shores.
Senegal reached the Quarter Finals of the World Cup in 2002 (their greatest ever performance) and it was impossible to ignore the work of that side’s star: El Hadj Diouf. Diouf’s tournament impressed Gérard Houllier to the point that he chose to sign him instead of extending Nicolas Anelka’s stay at Anfield. I think you know how that worked out.
Salif Diao’s got a Champions League medal on his mantlepiece—no one can ever take that away from him. Liverpool fully embraced Senegalese Mbalax in the summer of 2002, he too arrived in Merseyside off the back of some brilliant showings in the South Korea/Japan World Cup. Considering that £6.5m was a decent sum 23-years-ago, and Diao was brought in to solidify Liverpool’s midfield, even the most unwavering optimist couldn’t deem that transfer a success though.
Well, thanks to the exclusive from L’Equipe’s Nabil Djellit, we’re about to be the beneficiary of another export from the nation. This time, though, there’s no European stepping stone. Straight from Diambars to our academy.
Liverpool are (almost) breaking new ground by signing a footballer directly from Africa. Unless I’m mistaken, the most recent example of this was 70 years ago when goalkeeper Doug Rudham traded Johannesburg for Liverpool. I could find just two more examples in the entire history of LFC: South African pair Arthur Riley and Berry Nieuwenhuys who arrived in the 1920s and 30s respectively.
As I mentioned in my profile of 19-year-old target Abdelhamid Ait Boudlal, Liverpool are very keen to expand their scouting presence in both Africa and South America, with the belief that they can unearth hidden gems and secure high-potential talent at a fraction of the cost seen in more traditional European markets.
Liverpool’s Global Talent Scouting Manager, Kyle Wallbanks, was spotted at multiple matches of last month’s U20 African Cup of Nations tournament. Djellit, the French reporter, confirmed that this was also the case in the U17 iteration of the tournament. That’s where they came across Sidy Barhama Ndiaye.
The reputable Djellit insists that a deal in the region of €1m is at an advanced stage between LFC and the Senegalese academy:
“Liverpool flashed during the last U17 Africa Cup of Nations on Sidy Barhama Ndiaye. The Senegalese winger (2009) will leave the Diambars academy to (normally) engage with #Liverpool . The transfer is estimated at 1 M € . Things are working well in Senegal. Bravo”
Ndiaye with his POTM accolade last year in Morocco.
Before we delve right into Ndiaye, it’s important to note that, if the deal is indeed finalised, the 2009-born youngster is restricted from actually checking in at the club until his 18th birthday. Due to Brexit laws if you’re not familiar; the UK is no longer part of the European Union’s free movement rules.
That would be the beginning of 2028, when Ndiaye can legally become a Liverpool player and feature in the U18 Premier League or PL2. Who knows what the makeup of our academy will be by then. If all goes to plan, the next (brilliant) generation of academy forwards will still be Reds and be thriving: Joshua Abe and Erik Farkas. Chelsea are sniffing around them, though, remaining bitter over last summer’s Ngumoha transfer.
One point I want to stress and make abundantly clear: there isn’t a whole host of footage and reports to go off. You can’t scour hours of LFCTV footage like is the case for analysing our very own bright winger Rio Ngumoha.
What I’ll say is that there’s a lot to like with young Ndiaye. Sidy is beyond rapid, a brave risk taker on the ball and beats his full back with ease nine out of ten times. Great fundamentals. He’s an under-17 international; naturally he’s exceptionally raw. Lamine Yamal has warped many’s perception of what a 16-year-old footballer should look like.
He is a fairly small winger, standing around 5’6″ (1.67 m) with a slight build but makes up for it with that extreme pace and athleticism. The ‘Target Scouting’ blog insists that Ndiaye is probably the fastest U-17 player he’s ever seen.
Ndiaye is standing out above the rest even in age-group above his own. A traditional Liverpool winger: direct and full of pace and belief. Would make sense to secure his future right now whilst he’s still in Senegal.
Stretches back lines, got a nice first touch albeit he’s not always the tidiest technically, weight of pass is usually spot on and absolutely dynamite in 1v1 situations. That’ll do for me. Clearly, that’s also a sufficient base (to work with) for Liverpool’s scouting department and Academy Director, Alex Inglethorpe.
The right-footed wide man is very comfortable on both flanks. Being able to play on either flank makes it harder for defenders to anticipate movements given his two-footedness. Senegal’s coach at that level was able to be flexible and rotate Ndiaye onto either wing. That’s an asset: unpredictability.
Straight off the bat: Ndiaye draws a ridiculous amount of fouls. When he’s that quick and manipulates his body so well to initiate contact, sometimes taking the yellow card is the only option when Sidy’s driving on a transition.
See you later…
Those feet are exceptionally quick. I love his approach to 1v1s against full backs; Sidy doesn’t let his head drop if he’s dispossessed. He’ll demand the ball and get the better of him the next time. In the tournament, he averaged just under 9 dribble attempts per 90. That’s very high.
Nothing cute or incisive about it in tight spaces. Forceful. Usually finds a way through. Turning dribbles into duels isn’t overly promising, but while we’re at it that’s another strong point in Ndiaye’s game. Via Bence Bocsak, he was making 3.5 recoveries in the opposition’s half and averaging 6.32 defensive duels (per 90, of course) - which is freakishly high for a winger. Brilliant work rate on both sides of the ball.
The biggest flaw in his game appears to be his finishing. He’s still very, very young; I wouldn’t consider it as a concern, it’s not unusual in the slightest for youngsters to take time to develop end product. But for whats it’s worth, Ndiaye doesn’t have much composure in front of goal at this stage in his development. Doesn’t properly set himself or open his body out. Never seems to place it in a corner and doesn’t compensate for that by finding sufficient power in his shots.
Positive work to recover the ball in the lead up to it, a very tame effort however from distance however. Ndiaye’s far from a shy player—he loves to carry the responsibility on his shoulders.
A nice little feint to create separation from his full back (against Gambia) before sliding a difficult ball into the centre forward. His technical ability isn’t there yet and his game is very rough around the edges, however the GIF above is very promising. It’s about intent at this age; he recognises the best decision.
Main takeaways
✅ The outrageous level of pace means he consistently forces multiple 1v1 opportunities against the keeper per game.
❌ Often runs into blind alleys; there were several occasions in this tournament where he tried to push a ball past a player and just kicked it straight out of play.
The sources surrounding the link are certainly credible, and nobody close to the club has shot them down, but it would be fair to be skeptical to an extent. Sometimes, there are deliberate and well-constructed attempts by a player’s party to fabricate links in order to get their client’s name out there. Happens all across the world.
In 2021, Liverpool were said to have snapped up Abdul Fatawu Issakhu, who has went on to play for Sporting CP and Leicester City, from Ghanaian side Steadfast FC for a fee of £1.5m. Those inside the club later expressed total ‘bemusement’ at the rumours, according to The Athletic’s James Pearce, insisting that they had “no involvement and no commitment to take him in the future.”
I hope all is as it seems, though. Liverpool could reap major rewards from tapping into markets that they’d never previously considered.