The Premier League has long been a hotbed of talent, but this season, it seems as though one player has been keeping himself busy off the pitch by secretly dropping a rap track. The song, entitled “Thrill,” was recently released on YouTube by the mysterious artist, Dide, and has already amassed over half a million views.

Naturally, football fans have been quick to point out that there is no Premier League player known by the name Dide.
This has driven speculation wild on social media, with fans scrambling to guess the identity of the mysterious musician. Some of the names being thrown around include Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah, with fans suggesting that the name Dide is an anagram of Eddi. Others are convinced that it must be a Gunners player due to the lyrics referencing “my team stay winning” and “every game is like a final,” in reference to Arsenal’s title race with Manchester City. Additionally, the music video is set in London, leading some to speculate that Crystal Palace star Wilfried Zaha or recent Chelsea signing Noni Madueke could be the one behind the mask.

Dide first appeared on Instagram earlier this year with his bio saying: “Rapper at home. Footballer on the pitch⁣.”
He’s just posted a new picture with the caption “it’s about time we think outside of the box” – suggesting he isn’t a striker like Nketiah.
However, the recent caption of a new picture posted by the artist, which reads “it’s about time we think outside of the box,” suggests that Dide is not a striker like Nketiah, and therefore, further complicating the mystery.

Some Premier League stars have already ruled themselves out, with Michail Antonio and Callum Wilson both denying that they were the mystery rapper in their Footballer’s Football Podcast. “Obviously, he says south London, big time Premier League player, I got my own money, so it ain’t me,” Antonio says. “I don’t think it’s Wilfried Zaha, his body shape could be Nketiah.”

However, despite all the speculation, no one has yet been able to uncover the identity of Dide. We asked Radio 1Xtra DJ Kenny Allstar, an expert in the UK rap scene, for his opinion on the matter. Kenny thinks the Instagram post may be a red herring and is placing his bet on Arsenal forward Eddie Nketiah. “It’s just giving me Nketiah vibes – I think it’s him,” he says. AJD, a music producer and BBC Asian Network DJ, agrees with Kenny and thinks Dide is Nketiah based on the London accent in the song and the fact that he is following London-based producer Steel Banglez.

However, while Kenny and AJD are confident in their speculations, barber to the stars Justin Carr, who has trimmed the hair of Premier League stars such as Dele Alli and Kyle Walker, is not so sure. “I’ve heard the song and I’ve seen the mask, I’m rating it,” he says. “I trim a lot of players but no one has been rapping in my chair.”

Finally, we asked artificial intelligence researcher Matt to test out his high-tech AI systems to see if they could uncover the identity of Dide. After extracting the vocals from the track “Thrill,” Matt tested them against audio clips of footballers speaking. He reports that his system is “between 80-98% confident” that the rapper is Eddie Nketiah, rather than Zaha or Madueke, based on the similarities between the vocal samples and Nketiah’s voice.

For now, the identity of Dide remains a mystery, but with a little more time and speculation, the football world may finally uncover the truth