Iliman Ndiaye: The Great Entertainer

(Photo by Jess Hornby/Getty Images)

Too often, modern football ends up being about spreadsheets, budgets and financial forecasts. It’s about VAR and Gianni Infantino trying to sell the World Cup.

But there’s still some magic to be had, and there’s still some players capable of producing those moments that live long in the memories.

Iliman Ndiaye is one of those players.

Everton, of course, can’t have nice things for too long. Inevitably, Ndiaye has lofty ambitions. It’s a shame, but from the moment stories emerged in May that the Senegal international had rebuffed the club’s attempts to tie him down to a new contract, the writing was on the wall.

He is heading to Manchester City in a deal worth £65M. It’s a great move for Ndiaye, better than joining Tottenham, that’s for sure, and all in all, Everton have managed to make something of a bad situation this late in the window.

They should have been capable of selling for more in this market, though whether Ndiaye’s transfer to Man City ended up playing a part in freeing up negotiations for Jack Grealish’s impending return could have been a factor.

Losing your best attacker this late in the window can’t be considered as a positive, but his desire to leave put Everton in the position of needing to make a call.

He will leave having proved what kind of model Everton need to implement and stick to if they are to be sustainable and, hopefully, successful down the track.

Ndiaye joined for £15M from Marseille in 2024. He was undervalued because he had endured a tough season in France, following his move to the Ligue 1 giants from Sheffield United in 2023.

He was only 24, but he had come through the ranks in England after failing to make it from Marseille’s academy, playing at Boreham Wood before he joined the Blades.

That experience of English football meant that Ndiaye was ready to hit the ground running, and even though Sean Dyche did not immediately put him into the team, it soon became clear he had to find a space for Ndiaye.

After two strong seasons, albeit, he was below par in the run-in last term, the 26-year-old is now leaving for over 4x what Everton paid for him. That’s the model to aim for.

And once TFG — rightly — pulled the plug on Everton selling Harrison Armstrong, there was realistically no way Ndiaye was not going to be sold this window.

Ndiaye will leave having made Everton history. He scored the final goals at Goodison Park, and the first competitive goal at Hill Dickinson Stadium.

He produced some truly magnificent moments: A stunning solo run and goal against Spurs, that exquisite dribble and finish against Sunderland and his final Everton goal, which was a top-corner curler in March in the 3-0 hammering of Chelsea.

Ndiaye’s quick feet and ability to weave his way past players will be sorely missed, even if, for his talent, his actual output should not, at least in theory, be too difficult to replace.

That’s not to take away from Ndiaye’s qualities. He isn’t world class, but he certainly has some world class attributes. According to Opta, only Jérémy Doku (84) completed more successful dribbles in the Premier League in 2025-26 than Ndiaye (73).

Man City will hope that with better players around him, Ndiaye’s dribbling ability can unlock even more space for the likes of Doku, Rayan Cherki and Phil Foden, behind Erling Haaland.

And while, once again, Everton have to stomach seeing one of their better players leave the club, it’s now about seeing what this regime is really made of — will the replacements that come in leave the squad in a stronger position, or will it once again prove to be another false start?