El Hadji Diouf turns 43 today and here we looks back on why his £10m transfer to Liverpool went so badly wrong.
For the nomadic Nicolas Anelka, a player who moved 13 times during his playing days, there was one in particular he felt should have been where his roots were placed down. It was December 2001 when the France international striker joined Liverpool on a mid-season loan from Paris Saint-Germain. With manager Gerard Houllier and assistant Phil Thompson seeking extra firepower for their Premier League title push in the second half of the campaign, Anelka made the Reds his fifth club by the age of 22.
The electric Frenchman enjoyed his time under Houllier and scored five times in 22 appearances before the end of the season and it became widely assumed that the move would be made permanent. For reasons that are still to be publicly detailed, the dream would be dashed. An official club statement confirmed the decision, saying: “After a lot of thought we’ve decided not to make Nicolas Anelka’s move from Paris St Germain a permanent one.
“This was a difficult decision and we know that Nicolas will be very disappointed, but the manager has always had to do what he thinks is best for the club and the development of the team.”
Houllier would later say: “I don’t want to expose the reasons why I didn’t want to sign him, but I think he knows why and it has nothing to do with football.” Rumours over his brothers, who were acting as his representatives, and their questionable demands swirled, something which the late, great Houllier briefly addressed in 2015. “I wish I had kept Nicolas Anelka,” he said. “But his brothers didn’t help him.”
Speaking in his ‘Misunderstood’ documentary that was released in 2020, the player famously nicknamed ‘le Sulk’ for his broody temperament explained why he thought Liverpool was the place for him. “Liverpool fans think I didn’t want to stay,” he said. “They need to know that that wasn’t the case. That episode was tragic for me. It’s a club where I could have done great things. I did well, they played the game I was looking for and the atmosphere was good. For me there was no question, but obviously that did not suit Mr Houllier.”
It’s fair to label the decision not to sign Anelka as one of the great missteps of 21st century Liverpool. Or, more specifically, his choice of replacement was.
El-Hadji Diouf, who turns 43 today, was given the nod over Anelka. Liverpool struck a £10m deal with French club Lens, confirming the big-money transfer on June 1, 2002, one day after Senegal shocked the planet with a victory over holders France in the opening game of the World Cup.
Diouf would inspire Senegal all the way to the quarter-finals in Japan and it looked Houllier had performed a masterstroke in signing the enigmatic frontman before his profile rocketed after a fine few weeks at the tournament. The reality once Diouf pitched up at Anfield, however, was anything but.
Six goals were scored across his two full seasons with the Reds, a third of which came on his debut in a win over Southampton. He remains, to this day, the only No.9 at Liverpool to go through an entire season without a goal.
The mere mention of the former Senegal star now is enough to induce a wince from those who witnessed his form, attitude and conduct of 22 years ago. Two decades on, it seems those days are remembered all too well from those who were there.
The ECHO reached out to a number of Diouf’s ex-team-mates at Liverpool during that era. Interview requests were either politely declined or ignored altogether. “Nothing to say about him! Sorry,” was one response. Point taken.
Those who were willing to speak say they noticed a change in Diouf’s attitude when he was named as the 2002 African Footballer of the Year in early 2003. It was here, it’s claimed, where the wild antics were ramped up and the interest in playing for Liverpool was turned down. For Diouf, it simply did not matter that he was playing for one of the most famous clubs in world football.
Former defender Jon Otsemobor recalls the time he was awoken at around 2am by Diouf and a group of around 10 others, just a few hours before Melwood training, in the mood to party. “I was still a young lad and I was just disappointed thinking he took my friendship and used it,” Otsemobor told the ECHO in 2020. “I felt at the time, when I went into the dressing room, you can’t just use me like that, I’m your friend. If he needed a place to stay and all that, fine, but I’m not hosting parties for all the different people who were flying into the country every weekend!”
