Ligue 1: Boulaye Dia, electric striker from Reims

Boulaye Dia (c) after a goal against Montpellier, October 25, 2020. AFP - PASCAL GUYOT

Text by: Farid Achache Follow

4 min

Sunday, December 6, Reims receives Nice, which has just separated from its coach Patrick Vieira.

The opportunity for Boulaye Dia, with an atypical course, to shine at home and to increase his popularity and his goal counter.

The Senegalese international is at 8, just ahead of Parisian Kilian Mbappé, at the top of the Ligue 1 scorers ranking with 9 goals.

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Native of Oyonnax in the Ain, Boulaye Dia has an unusual trajectory.

He does not come out of a training center and has known the factory, and the amateur matches with Jura Sud in Nationale 2, two years ago.

There, the striker had just completed a season of 15 goals in 21 games when Reims smelled the good deal.

In 2017, he even played in Regional 2, at the PVFC Oyonnax, which is to say if the course accomplished in the space of three seasons is atypical.

His life then was made up of odd jobs to support the family whose father could no longer work, and evening training.

 I managed to work in the morning.

Even when I was doing 4h-12h, I was on fire at football because when you only have two training sessions a week, you get the most out of it,

”he tells the monthly

So Foot.

Spotted in adolescence by Olympique Lyonnais

Spotted in adolescence by Olympique Lyonnais and AS Saint-Étienne, Boulaye Dia still misses the radar.

The father's car breaks down on the road to Saint-Étienne, as he leaves for a test drive.

Three years later, after several conclusive tests at Olympique Lyonnais, a wrist X-ray predicted that he would not grow up enough to qualify for the professional world.

Between the factory and the building sites, professional electrician baccalaureate in his pocket, Boulaye Dia, whose father had played as an amateur in Senegal, was not really doomed to evolve in the elite.

However, in 60 meetings with the shirt of the Champagne club, he has 20 goals, including eight since the start of the season.

Reims, who thought they would lose him in the last transfer window, could let him go this winter.

 I think it won't last there, it won't last in Reims, believe me! 

Exclaimed his teammate Sadio Mané in selection.

 Since the start of the season, I have started to follow him, and I am really impressed by his qualities, 

” added the Liverpool attacking asset.

Praises that can flatter Boulaye Dia, under contract with Reims until June 2022.

The pride of the big brothers

In an interview with

L'Union

, the Champagne president, Jean-Pierre Caillot, confirmed the possibility of letting the 24-year-old go, at the next winter transfer window.

“ 

If he stays, I'd be happy to.

If he has a proposal that suits him and us too, I could not oppose it, because I have given my word

... ”, he said.

Fourth of a family of Senegalese origin, Boulaye Dia is now the pride of the big brothers.

 We knew each other by heart, there were four of us in the bedroom, we were very united.

I am an observer, and my brothers have always been my models: everything they have done, I have drawn the best out of it so as not to repeat their mistakes.

My success is also theirs, 

”he always told

So Foot.

Today, the odds of the former electrician are estimated at 8 million euros and several European clubs are on the lookout.

Which could take him even further from his native industrial valley, and from his discreet beginnings in the middle of the round ball.

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