Born to a Senegalese father and a French mother in France 22 years ago, Iliman Cheikh Baroy Ndiaye is one of the most unlikely World Cup players you’ve ever seen.Saying that the attacking midfielder plays for EFL Championship club Sheffield United would make a slight overstatement. The truth is he has only recently started to play regularly after mostly sitting on their bench for a year. But now he’s playing for Senegal in the biggest tournament in world football.Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom got emotional ahead of Senegal’s opening group game against Holland. He spoke to The Athletic about Ndiaye’s rise.”From when I first met him and where he was, and also getting to know his family, this is special. I hope he gets minutes and shows what he is about. I’m desperate for that to happen. He has come such a long way already. But I do believe he can do the same on the biggest stage of all, the World Cup.”WE ARE READY!! 🇸🇳🦁#Alhamdulillah #FIFAWorldCupQatar2022 pic.twitter.com/XLZCfQUl66— iliman Ndiaye (@iliman_ndiaye) November 19, 2022 The former Rouen, Olympique de Marseille and Dakar Sacre-Coeur youngster started playing first-team football at Boreham Wood, a fifth-tier club from England – when he was just 16. It was a way into the game, but there was nothing glamourous about it. Often broke, the youngster had to switch multiple trains to get to training – so he had to bump. It often meant avoiding ticket inspectors. In that part of his life, playing in the World Cup couldn’t have been farther away from his mind. But here we are.Getting to England wasn’t easy. The talent was always there, however. Ndiaye quickly caught the eye in Dakar after his family decided to move back to Africa. One newspaper in Senegal even labelled him a “future Messi” after he helped his team to success in an under-10s tournament. There was a lot of promise, but the road was long and bumpy.##NAJAVA_MECA_6843384##Three years later they were on the move again, this time to London. Ndiaye, who didn’t speak any English at the time of the move from Senegal, attended several football camps and had a six-week trial with Southampton, only to be rejected. At 16, he joined Boreham Wood and continued to develop.Good performances at the youth level got the scouts watching – the hard work was starting to yield results. Iliman signed for Sheffield United, a former Premier League club, in August 2019, but he took a lot of getting adjusted to life in Yorkshire. He started his first league match for the Blades just 14 months ago, but that period was enough for him to convince Aliou Cisse that he could offer some of his skills to the national team.##EDITORS_CHOICE##Ndiaye’s blossoming end to last season did not go unnoticed. Nottingham Forest seriously considered bidding for a player they believed was available for $6 million a few months ago. Ultimately, though, the Premier League new boys opted to look elsewhere. But with the World Cup experience and his contract expiring in 18 months, more clubs might be interested in taking the new Teranga Lion.Sometimes you go from being unable to afford a train ride to creating a goal in the World Cup. Iliman has made that journey.
