Ali Dia | Matt Le Tissier RECALLS The VIRAL Football Con Artist & Why It Won't EVER Happen Again

On 23 November 1996, Ali Dia made his now infamous one and only appearance for Southampton's first team.

The story of how Dia came to play for the Saints has since gone down in legend, as Sam Harris recalled in this article about famously fake footballers from 2018:

"Ali Dia, he's a liar, he's a liar." So goes the chant sung by Southampton fans in honour of their most infamous player.

The story goes that someone - posing as legendary AC Milan striker George Weah - called Saints manager Graeme Souness and convinced him to take on a footballer called Ali Dia. 'Weah' reported that the two played together at Paris St-Germain and that Dia had bagged a couple of goals for the Senegal national team.

Souness was convinced enough to invite Dia to come and train with Southampton and actually brought him on as a sub in a Premier League game against Leeds.

After 20 minutes on the pitch, Souness had seen enough and hooked him, with the striker never to be seen in the Premier League again.
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