The Cypriot God... From Blackburn

The Cypriot God… From Blackburn
Not many English players like to go abroad, least of all to Cyprus. But when Matt Derbyshire, born in Lancashire, packed his bags and headed off to Cypriot First Division club Omonia Nicosia, he thought it was the end of his professional footballing career. The striker had had spells at English clubs like Rotherham and Birmingham, and even played 14 times for the England Under-21s, yet when he found himself without a club in August 2016, he decided it was time for a different challenge.
He was instantly a hit in Cyprus, marking his league debut with a 2nd-minute penalty, and scoring the winner in a Europa League qualifier meant he became an immediate fan favourite. As the season went on, the boy from Blackburn couldn’t stop scoring, even surpassing Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the leader board for the European Golden Shoe. Before you complain that Derbyshire was being marked by a 38-year-old Cypriot carpenter while Zlatan has to deal with the best around, UEFA have a system that even things up, multiplying the number of goals by a difficulty factor so goal-getters can be reasonably compared.
While hundreds of young players sit on the benches of lower league English clubs waiting for an opportunity to come to them, Derbyshire went out and made opportunities for himself, scoring goals for fun and playing 90 minutes every week. He finished the season on 24 goals from just 26 games, an unbelievable record no matter the opposition.

The fans adore him, finally having a player that they can idolise like the great Sotiris Kaiafas, who won the European Golden Shoe while at the club in 1976. Some people might think it’s a step down in class rather than a step up in performance, but why be a reserve for Rotherham when you can be a Cypriot football God?

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