Iliman Ndiaye’s move to Everton from Olympique Marseille has brought back memories of when Walter Smith attempted a ‘French Revolution’ at Goodison Park back in 1998.
Earlier that year, previous Blues boss Howard Kendall had made Mickael Madar Everton’s first Frenchman but he had arrived from Spanish club Deportivo La Coruna. The following summer his replacement Walter Smith, fresh from departing Rangers, revived ‘The Auld Alliance’ by making a hat-trick of raids on the French League with recruits from Ligue 1 suddenly like buses by appearing one after the other in quick succession in L4.
While Ndiaye, who has joined from Marseille after previously turning out for Sheffield United – and Hyde United on loan – in English football, is now one of many signings for Everton from the Gallic game, along with the likes of Idrissa Gueye (second time around); Amadou Onana, Niels Nkounkou, Alex Nyarko plus loan recruits such as Djibril Sidibe and Lacina Traore, over a quarter of a century ago when the team had stayed up on the final day of the previous season against Coventry City with just two players from outside the British Isles on the pitch in the shape of the aforementioned Madar and goalkeeper Thomas Myhre from Norway, it was still very much viewed as something of a cosmopolitan novelty.
