Millwall transfer deal with Leicester City was one to forget: View | OneFootball

Beware the striker who scores on his debut, because sometime he is not all he seems.

Millwall fans will attest to that, having got their hopes up when Dany N’Guessan found the net 14 minutes into his first start as a Lions player, only for them to be smashed into smithereens across the Frenchman’s two years at the club.

Five goals across two seasons tells you everything you need to know about the not-so-sharp shooter, who moved to The Den from Leicester City in the summer of 2011 as he attempted to resurrect a flailing EFL career.

There will be plenty of sides up and down the leagues who have their own N’Guessan tales to tell, with his club count in England reaching double figures; more than the goals he managed to score for all but one of those former employers.

Dany N’Guessan career history: Rangers, Leicester City, Southampton, Millwall

After spells at Auxerre in his native France and Glasgow Rangers in Scotland during his youth, N’Guessan made the move to England initially with Boston United as the Pilgrims battled at the bottom of the fourth tier.

The striker had jumped ship before the side plummeted out of the Football League though, with local rivals Lincoln City making a move for the Frenchman; although it probably didn’t take them long to realise their faux pas in the transfer market.

A goalless stretch of nine games to end the season was a sign of things to come at Sincil Bank, as the Imps went from promotion challengers one season to mid-table mediocrity for the next two; with N’Guessans eight goals in each season contributing to back-to-back forgettable seasons.

At just 21 years of age, the forward was still seen as a player with plenty of potential, which is exactly why Leicester City would have been tempted to offer him a three-year deal on the expiration of his contract in the summer of 2009, with Nigel Pearson hailing the newly signed star as ‘an extremely exciting prospect’.

From a man who enjoys fighting wolves in the Bulgarian wilderness that is high praise indeed, and Foxes fans must have thought they had a gem on their hands when he netted on his debut to seal a 2-1 win over Swansea City, before making it two in two games against Macclesfield Town in the League Cup.

Matty Fryatt and Martyn Waghorn must have been shaking in their boots at the thought of the latest Football League hotshot taking their starting positions at the then-Walkers Stadium, but their fears were soon put to bed as normal service resumed for the Frenchman in front of goal.

With the initial flurry over, N’Guessan would go on to find the net just twice more in the league over the course of the season, with the opener in a 2-1 win over Blackpool in February his final strike for the club; while Messrs Waghorn and Fryatt netted 12 and 11 times in the league respectively.

Pearson had seen enough of the new recruit to realise he wasn’t up to scratch, and after sporadic appearances at the start of the next campaign, a series of temporary spells away from the club began; with Scunthorpe United his next destination.

Goal on debut. Check. Fail to live up to the hype. Check. Business as usual for N’Guessan, who also flattered to deceive at Southampton before the season came to an end.

Dany N'Guessan Millwall FC goalscoring record

The non-goalscoring nomad’s next destination was to be The Den, and what would you know? Another goal on debut for the Frenchman as he tried to impress his new management, who were duped into making an initial loan deal permanent at the start of the 11/12 campaign.

It took another 13 matches for him to find the net again - which is half-decent by his standards - before the Lions had already decided they could live without their new striker by the time March came around after just three goals in 19 matches.

He came, he didn’t score, he squandered. That was the story of N’Guessan’s time with Millwall, who must have barely believed their eyes when he found the net four times in seven matches on loan at Charlton Athletic; albeit in the division below.

That valiant spell at the Valley earned him a reprieve for the following season, but Mr Goalshy himself was back to his old tricks, with just two strikes in 18 matches proving too much for the Lions to take, and he was shown the door quicker than you can say ‘misfiring striker’.

Millwall weren’t the first to be fooled into thinking they would be the side to finally unlocked N’Guessan’s attacking potential, and they weren’t the last either; with Swindon Town, Port Vale and Doncaster Rovers all trying to get some sort of return from the Frenchman, but to no avail.

over the course of his career, the forward failed to deliver time and time again across the EFL, and after falling foul of the debut-goal scam, Millwall fans are well aware that all that glitters is not gold.