EL-HADJI DIOUF once turned up at Liverpool team-mate Jon Otsemobor’s house at 2am with around ten women for a party – on the same day the club had training.
The outgoing Senegal forward, now 39, was never too far from the headlines during his time in England with Liverpool, Bolton, Sunderland, Blackburn, Doncaster and Leeds.
El Hadji Diouf turned up at Jon Otsemobor’s house with around ten women ready for a party…. at 2am the night before Liverpool trainingCredit: Getty Images – Getty
But it was the incident with Otsemobor which left the young full-back feeling “used” by the more experienced player.
Speaking to the Liverpool Echo, the retired defender recalled the story of when Diouf came knocking in the early hours, despite the pair having to be at Melwood in the morning.
Estimating Diouf had bout 10 women with him, he said: “When an older pro like that approaches you, you feel obliged.
“I was still a young lad and I was just disappointed thinking he took my friendship and used it.
“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 different people who were flying into the country every weekend!”
Otsemobor went on to admit he had no personal problems with Diouf, unlike some Liverpool players, even if he did have a “God-like persona”.
El Hadji Diouf’s misdemeanours in England
2002 – Accused of spitting at West Hams fans while warming up
2003 – Spat at Celtic fan, fined two weeks’ wages, two-match ban from Uefa, charged with assault, pleaded guilty and fined £5,000
2004 – Charged by police for spitting at 11-year-old Middlesbrough fan
2004 – Spat in the face of Portsmouth’s Arjan de Zeeuw, fined two weeks’ wages, banned for three games
2009 – Questioned by police after allegedly telling Everton ball boy “f*** off, white boy”
2010 – Arrested and charged for motoring offences in Manchester
2011 – Accused by Neil Warnock of mocking Jamie Mackie who was lying on the pitch with a broken leg, described by Warnock as “lower than a sewer rat”
2011 – Did not join Blackburn for pre-season tour of Austria with whereabouts unknown
2012 – Accused of being “back to his antics of spitting again” by Gary Taylor-Fletcher after incident with Blackpool goalkeeper Matt Gilks
2012 – Arrested with five other men after reports of a nightclub brawl in Manchester, bailed for a week
2013 – Shown red card after making offensive gesture towards Brighton away fans
Diouf signed for the Anfield side in 2002 from Lens and spent three years on the books with the Reds, albeit scoring just three Premier League goals in 55 appearances before being shipped out to Bolton, initially on loan.
He was involved in a number of spitting incidents after arriving in England and then was accused of racially abusing a ball boy and mocking Jamie Mackie as he lay on the pitch with a broken leg.
Otsemobor came through the Liverpool academy and made his first-team debut in a 3-1 League Cup win over Southampton in November 2002.
But less than a year later he was the victim of mistaken identity and was shot in the buttocks inside a Liverpool nightclub.
The bullet remarkably passed through, missing his hip, but ricocheted into another clubber and took their finger off.
Otsemobor, who went on to have a career throughout the EFL with the likes of Norwich, Sheffield Wednesday and MK Dons, was arrested at the Liverpool training ground eight months after the shooting incident after getting involved in a street fight to help a friend.
He added: “I did get in stupid bits of trouble down the years but I’ve put that down to being very inexperienced. A lot of my trouble came away from the football club, like on nights out.
“I could have controlled things if I had a more sensible head on me by not being in them places at those times but other than that, going through my career, once I started growing up and maturing I didn’t have problems anywhere else.
“It was just unfortunate that it happened at such a young age at a club where I had so much potential of doing well there.”
Otsemobor hit the headlines during his time at Liverpool for off-field issues – including being shot in the buttocksCredit: Empics
Robertson, Wijnaldum and Minamino arrive at Melwood Training Facility as blue testing tent can be seen at entrance
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
