He is so bad he is...Dia!

A well known story this one, but one that never fails to raise a chuckle when I read it!

Have you heard the one about George Weah's Cousin?
After a playing career at the lower levels in France and Germany, and having already had failed trials at Port Vale, Gillingham and Bournemouth, before playing at semi-pro club Blyth Spartans, Ali Dia was signed by Southampton manager Graeme Souness in 1996, after Souness received a phone call purporting to be from Liberian international and former FIFA World Player of the Year George Weah. "Weah" told Souness that Dia was his cousin, had played for Paris Saint-Germain and had played 13 times for his country. Actually, none of this was true, and the phone call was from Dia's agent. Nonetheless, Souness was convinced, and signed Dia on a one-month contract.

Dia played just one game for Southampton, in the number 33 shirt, against Leeds United on November 23, 1996; he had originally been scheduled to play in a reserve friendly against Arsenal, but the match was cancelled due to a waterlogged pitch. In the match against Leeds, he came on as a substitute for Matthew Le Tissier after 32 minutes but his performance was spectacularly below Premier League quality. He was later substituted (for Ken Monkou) after playing until the 53rd minute; Leeds won the match 2–0.

Le Tissier himself recalled the story in a television interview, telling that Dia spent only a weekend at the club. He first came down to train with the team on Friday morning and what he did "didn't look very good" and Southampton players thought that they would "never see him again", but then on the next day Dia was surprisingly named to the subs bench. His performance on the field after he came on to replace Le Tissier "was unbelievable. He ran around the pitch like Bambi on ice, it was very very embarrassing to watch." Yet according to the team's physiotherapist on Sunday morning Dia "turned up for treatment of an injury" and "then he left, and we never saw him again ... nobody knows where he went."

Dia was released by Southampton two weeks into his contract. He briefly played for non-league Gateshead, before leaving in February 1997. He went on to study business at Northumbria University in Newcastle graduating in 2001.

Dia has achieved a notorious status amongst English football fans for his lack of ability, and is regularly featured in lists of bad players or bad transfers. He was named at #1 in a list of "The 50 worst footballers" in The Times newspaper.