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Out of nowhere in the past few weeks, masked rapper Dide released Thrill, a rap song that dropped a few hints to his real identity as a Premier League footballer.
It’s got the internet stumped, as social media plays The Masked Singer over the star. Some claim that it’s not a footballer at all but a piece of clever marketing to get eyes on the video.
Fair Betting Sites (opens in new tab), however, has put together odds on who they think the man behind the mask is – with one Arsenal star leading the line…
Who is Dide? Here are the favourites…
1. Eddie Nketiah: 1/3
Let’s look at the… err… evidence. Dide is almost an anagram of Eddie – and in Thrill, there’s a reference to being 23.
So it has to be him, right? Eddie Nketiah is 23, while the south London imagery in the video certainly points to the striker’s Lewisham background. Listening to the Arsenal striker in interviews, it certainly could be him. Is this all a bit of a leap, though?
2. Alex Iwobi: 4/1
Another man with Arsenal roots, Man Like Wobes was brought up in London after being born in Lagos, Nigeria. He still has his London accent and would have plenty of reason to mask his real identity, given how Everton fans have reacted to Dominic Calvert Lewin’s modelling career during their plight.
Has anyone spotted Iwobi around London filming this video? Not a single reference to Toffees makes FFT suspicious of this one. Still, it would be an upgrade to hear this at Goodison instead of the ancient Everton songs that they play to the crowd.
3. Bukayo Saka: 7/1
Bukayo Saka was the first name to be heavily rumoured online – and if you ask us, Dide sounds a lot like the Starboy himself.
Is Saka too big to be turning his hand to a rap career, though? He’s basically the best right-winger in England right now: for him to be this good at both music and football makes us sceptical. He’s not 23, either. If you ask FFT, Dide isn’t a footballer at all and just ran with the fact he sounds a little bit like Saka in order to cause a storm. It worked, didn’t it?
4. Ashley Young: 12/1
Ashley Young is 37 years old, now. Hip-hop isn’t just a young man’s game – Kanye West released Yeezus when he was the Aston Villa star’s age – and perhaps the Watford-born winger is preparing for a life beyond football.
Young seems like a bit of a random guess but we’d be all for hearing more tales of his 20-odd-year career in future tracks. Anecdotes of playing weird positions under Louis van Gaal and winning a Scudetto at Inter Milan next please, Dide.
5. Jacob Ramsey: 14/1
Another random Villa star is also 25/1. Jacob Ramsey doesn’t seem to have the speaking voice to be Dide, which makes us doubtful for a start.
Ramsey has enjoyed a fine season under Unai Emery, so now would certainly be the time to launch a rap career. Still, the Birmingham native has little to no connection to south London, so the video would feel a bit Iggy Azalea if it is to be him.
6. Ivan Toney: 25/1
Dide has not mentioned in Thrill that he’s recently capped at international level; nor has he bragged of his prolific record from the penalty spot.
Once again, Ivan Toney isn’t from London – but he does at least play there. Given that footage has leaked of the forward bad-mouthing the Bees on video before (opens in new tab), however, it would seem unlikely that he’d be able to keep this secret without someone outing him. It’s a no from us.
7. Tyrone Mings: 28/1
Tyrone Mings did at least have a career before football, working as a mortgage advisor while a non-league player. Could he juggle Aston Villa with hip-hop?
The giant centre-back is one of the nicest men in football, turning up for a fan’s seven-a-side while at Bournemouth once (opens in new tab) – and we wouldn’t put it past him to have a side project like this. Not many rappers that we can name are from Bath, though.
8. Marcus Rashford: 50/1
Marcus Rashford is one of the busiest men in the Premier League aside from football, taking on the government and getting kids into reading – but this feels like a project too far. There’s not much that we put past the Manchester United No.10… except this.
He’s 50/1 but it’s very clearly not Rashford’s voice, is it? Maybe if you played us an unreleased Bugzy Malone track you could fool us – but not here.
9. Harry Kane: 1000/1
He’s England’s top scorer, genuinely world-class and an all-round great human being – but Harry Kane doesn’t strike us as rap’s next superstar.
Still, stranger things have happened and the Tottenham legend would genuinely earn cool points if this were him. Sadly, the voice doesn’t match – and what was a north Londoner be doing making references to south of the river?
10. James Milner: 2500/1
Not content with joining Twitter and upstaging the Boring Milner account with his own hilarious deadpan humour, taking to the music world to release actually decent rap tracks and prove that he’s cool all along would be James Milner’s final triumph – and probably top that Champions League medal in his cabinet.
Please… let it be Milly.
