The latest article from The Secret Footballer is on simulation. Focusing on the circus that was Wednesday’s Champions League first leg El Clasico he talks about diving being a far too apparent blemish on the game.

It’s another great read and one that I’m sure most, if not all, readers will agree with.

And we had a huge clue this week, possibly the biggest yet in that it will allow us to rule out many players. The clue is that he once played with Paolo Di Canio:
“I played with a foreign player who was a master at winning free-kicks after minimal contact. Our manager loved him and would say to us: ‘You all need to be more streetwise like Paolo'”
Many people had already guessed that the ‘lazy’ striker from his April 2nd article may have been him and the spelling of Paolo confirms this (i.e. it’s not Paulo Wanchope!).

I will keep all of the current ‘open’ candidates open for today whilst getting your feedback on the ‘Paolo’ reference, but barring any drastic twist will rule out all players who haven’t played with Di Canio this evening.

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