Non-League Paper Programme: The Non-League stars taking on the world

By Jon Couch

It’s fair to say the summer 2026 Non-League transfer window will be remembered for years to come. Ground-breaking in fact.

Record deals being negotiated left, right and centre with Abdul Abdulmalik’s £1.5m transfer from Boreham Wood to Swedish top-flight outfit Djurgardens IF topping the lot and finally surpassing the £1m paid by Leicester City for a certain Jamie Vardy in 2012.

Whatever happened to him?

But the success stories don’t stop there.

Rise

In this week’s NLP, we plotted the rise of three more former Non-Leaguers who completed huge moves into the Premier League in this summer transfer window. 

Iliman Ndiaye, now a Senegal international, sealed his £65m move from Everton to Manchester City on the same evening Sorba Thomas landed his Premier League dream when Hull City bought him from Stoke City.

Ndiaye, 26, and Thomas, 27, are the two biggest success stories to emerge from Wood’s PASE Academy set-up.

Under the guidance of Wood boss Luke Garrard and academy head coach Cameron Mawer, the pair starred in the club’s Elite youth team, collecting national titles and back-to-back-to-back league triumphs.

And it wasn’t long before they were breaking into Garrard’s first team.

Ndiaye was quickly picked up by Sheffield United where – after a loan spell with Hyde United – he started to make the name that has seen him go onto Marseille, Everton and now Champions League-chasing City.

Thomas was more of a regular, playing 77 times and becoming a huge part of a promotion push before Huddersfield Town swooped.

Focused

“We’ve got a really exciting crop at Bedford Town and I always tell the players, ‘Yes, it is about what you do on the pitch consistently, but things aren’t always going to go smoothly for you’,” Mawer, who heads up Bedford’s academy alongside his role St Neots Town boss told us.

“It’s the ones who can take that rejection and get through it. If you’re not in a pro club at 16, 17, there’s a lot of outside distractions that can take you off the path.

“It’s the ones who stay focused, keep going and keep building every day. Sorbs and Iliman had it.

“I have probably coached thousands and thousands of kids. What separates those two is that mentality to keep going.

“Nothing could take them off the pathway – girls, alcohol, nights out, friends, making money.

“They had no interest in that, they just had interest in being the best player on the pitch and getting to where they want to get to.”

Talented youngster

And more was yet to come.

Also on transfer deadline day, 25-year-old winger Femi Azeez completed a move to Brighton & Hove Albion after lighting it up in the Championship for Millwall.

It completes a remarkable rise from the Southern League East Division to the Premier League in eight years.

Having been in Watford’s academy, Azeez left and joined Northwood’s youth system where he was handed a first-team debut aged 16 by Gordon Boateng.

It was in Wealdstone’s youth side where then Stones’ boss Bobby Wilkinson first caught a glimpse of the talented youngster.

And it wasn’t long before he was starting against Uxbridge in the Middlesex Senior Cup before making his league debut at home to Eastbourne Borough in December 2018.

Journey

“I watched him in the youth team, I think on a Sunday afternoon, at Wealdstone on the pitches out the back,” Wilkinson, the current Swindon Supermarine boss told us.

“I spotted him in ten seconds!”

He added: “I brought him in with me and put him in the men’s side – I just had an unbelievable feeling about this boy.

“There was just something about him. In this day and age, scouts don’t look long term.

“I didn’t think straightaway he was going to develop right then. But what I did do was bring him straight into men’s football, put him on the bench and let him play in front of good crowds.

“I made sure if we were winning – or we couldn’t win the game – we’d give him 20 minutes.

“We guided him all the way through that year and did it with a purpose for where he is now.

“There’s lots of people who have been part of his journey. But they won’t take away that year he spent with us.”

Inspirational

At the same time, we ran the inspirational tale of Manasse Kianga, who rose from Step 5 Rossington Main all the way to the Champions League with Slovan Bratislava!

The 24-year-old made 115 appearances for Main across five years at Oxford Street, scoring 51 goals, but now he finds himself lining up in front of crowds in excess of 20,000 after helping the Slovak champions reach the league phase of the Champions League.

‘Manny’, as he is more affectionately known, moved to England with his family in 2017 at the age of 15 and found his home in DN11 when he joined Rossington in 2019, establishing himself as a firm fan favourite from the off.

His spell at Rossington was punctuated by brief spells across the Non-League circuit, including with Sheffield FC, until difficulties obtaining a permanent work-permit forced a move back to South Africa.

But his chapter in football in Europe was not closed, signing for Slovak third-tier side Lokomotíva Košice the following year and after four goals in 11 appearances, earning Kianga a move to the top tier with Slovan in 2026 under former Barcelona and Manchester City star Yaya Touré.

Ndiaye, Thomas, Azeez and Kianga are all examples of the opportunities that can become available for Non-League players across the pyramid with the right application and dedication.

It also serves to prove once again that the English Pyramid is the envy of the world.