Former Liverpool starlet Neil Mellor has confirmed what we already know: Selfish El-Hadji Diouf is the worst man in football.
Nobody can blame former Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier for this – we weren’t to know the man was an absolute troll when he was signed just shortly after the 2002 World Cup. But, this did turn out to be one of the worst deals under the Frenchman’s reign.
In more ways than one.
Not only did the Senegal international fail to score, he was also one of the worst blokes to ever grace the Anfield turf. Not many people liked him, and even fewer had a place for him in their hearts when he left for Bolton, Blackburn, Sunderland and Leeds.
In 80 appearances, the man scored just six goals and didn’t do anything near enough to justify the price Liverpool paid Lens for him. You could argue that at least one of those shouldn’t be his.
That’s definitely what Neil Mellor feels, who spilled the beans to Goal about what it was like to play with El-Hadji Diouf.
At the time, the forward was just starting to come through into the first team and was keen to make a name of himself. As a local lad, there were high hopes on his shoulders – and as a striker – goals were his currency.
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There’s nothing better than seeing a youngster coming through the Academy and scoring, but Mellor was to be denied that by the selfish actions of his teammate.
He revealed that he was robbed of two goals in his first two goals for Liverpool by the new arrival, who was struggling for form. That might have changed the course of Mellor’s career, who knows.
Mellor told Goal how he won a penalty on his debut against Ipswich Town at home.
Houllier had told the youngster he was going to take them, but when it came to the crunch Diouf ripped the ball from his hands, Steven Gerrard told Mellor to let Diouf take it, and was denied a goal on debut at Anfield.
But it gets worse.
During his next start at Maine Road against Manchester City Diouf and Mellor were leading the line.
“All he’s got to do is square it to me and I’ve got a tap-in from three yards,” said the Liverpool lad. But no, his teammate went for goal from a tight angle and hit the side netting.
“I could have had two goals in my first two starts if it weren’t for him!”
And that pretty much sums up the character of Diouf.