3. Tonton Zolo Moukoko (Championship Manager 01-02)
“We went to a small village in Malaysia,” Tonton Zola Moukoko told me. “I gave my passport to the officer. He was shocked. ‘Are you really Tonton Zola Moukoko?’ he asked. ‘You can’t be the one that was playing at Derby!'”
Moukoko’s legend travelled far and wide, carried on fans’ forums and whispered between Championship Manager anoraks. And there was truth in its roots.
Derby beat AC Milan and Bologna to sign the 15-year-old from Djurgardens in Sweden, where he moved from Democratic Republic of Congo to live with his brother after losing both parents.
He was a fledgling star in County’s academy, whose attributes on the game would see him grow into a skilful number 10 in the mould of Lionel Messi, often ending up at Europe’s biggest clubs.
At real-life youth or reserve games, fans would ask for his signature. But Moukoko never made a senior appearance at Derby. The death of his older brother saw him return to Sweden, and he spent his career in the lower Scandinavian leagues.
“Things happened around me which changed me a lot, changed my football career,” he said. “I didn’t really enjoy football any more.
“I found it very difficult to sleep for a long time after my brother died. Football was not the right thing for me after that.”
Moukoko is happy, though, that his legend endures among those who signed him on the game: “Still now, I have people calling from Australia, France, all over the place.”