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Fans Convinced Masked Rapper Dide Is Arsenal Striker Eddie Nketiah

A mystery Premier League footballer dropped their debut rap track last week under the pseudonym "Dide".

The official music video for "Thrill" landed on YouTube on Friday and has already received over 600,000 views in under a week.

Dide also has an official website where he is selling branded merchandize for up to £59.99.

The about section of the website reads: "Hailing from the UK, masked hip-hop sensation Dide keeps his Premier League football life separate from his evocative music by donning a rose-adorned disguise. While living the luxurious life of a pro footballer, Dide reveals his depth and complexity through powerful tracks."

Who is Dide?

His first music video was set in London, leading many to speculate that it is likely a player from one of the EPL's seven capital clubs.

Some fans have tried to guess Dide's identity by commenting on his social posts.

Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha and Chelsea midfielder Noni Madueke have both been popular guesses.

But many fans are convinced that he plays for Arsenal and that some of his lyrics - such as "my team stay winning" and "every game is like a final" - refer to the club's title race against Manchester City.

Rapper Dide pictured performing in the music video for his debut track "Thrill"

Rapper Dide pictured performing in the music video for his debut track "Thrill"

Some fans think it is Reiss Nelson or Bukayo Saka but many others are pretty sure it is striker Eddie Nketiah, partly because Dide is an anagram of Eddi.

One wrote: "If you haven't seen it already, an 'unknown' Premier League footballer has just dropped a new track. However, he's not unknown to most of us; it's Eddie Nketiah."

BBC Radio 1Xtra DJ Kenny Allstar also thinks Nketiah is likely the man behind the mask.

"I'm going to go with the Arsenal forward Eddie Nketiah," he told BBC Newsbeat. "It's just giving me Nketiah vibes - I think it's him."

Meanwhile, an artificial intelligence researcher called Matt told BBC News that he was "between 80-98% confident" that Nketiah was Dide, after extracting short fragments of his track and comparing it to clips of the player speaking in interviews.

Eddie Nketiah pictured celebrating after scoring for Arsenal in a 5-1 win over Everton in May 2022

Is Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah the man behind the mask?