Take these footballers, who took the advice 'fake it till you make it' a little too seriously.

Ali Dia - Southampton

Former Southampton manager Graeme Souness thought he had unearthed a gem when Sengalese striker Ali Dia rocked up purporting to be the cousin of FIFA World Player of the Year George Weah.

A phone call from ‘Weah’ (who turned out to be one of Dia’s friends from University) was all Souness needed to sign striker who featured in a Premier League game against Leeds in 1996.

Le Tissier’s brutal assessment of Dia’s 53-minute cameo says it all: “He ran around the pitch like Bambi on ice, it was very embarrassing to watch.”

Unsurprisingly, it was Dia’s only appearance for the Saints, vanishing after the Saints caught wind of the scam.

Carlos Kaiser - Flamengo

Easily the most elaborate scam on this list, nobody went to greater lengths than Carlos Kaiser to weasel his way into a pro football club.

Kaiser was on the books at ten different clubs including Brazilian giants Fluminese, Flamengo and Vasco de Gama, without making a competitive appearance.

The striker befriended famous players such as Carlos Alberto and journalists who substantiated his story and often faked injury to avoid being exposed.

His career was shrouded in mystery with conflicting reports over how long his stint at each unwitting club was. His Wikipedia page offers more questions than answers.

Dexter Rosales - Adelaide United

In 2012, Adelaide United manager John Kosmina got the hot tip from agent Lou Nesci about Dexter Rosales who apparently played for Ajax, River Plate and Valencia.

Rosales had a Wikipedia page, twitter account and a story about him in Assiociated Press, which claimed to quote then Ajax manager Frank de Boer.

There was even a highlights reel doing the rounds, which turned out to be of former Ajax and River Plate midfielder Mauro Rosales.

At the time Kosmina thought he had nothing to lose, saying: ''Their pedigree is good and we've got to cast the net far and wide, so they'll come here on trial and we'll have a look at them.''

Sadly for Kossie it was too good to be true. The fictitious footballer never showed and Kosmina was left red-faced.

Togo’s team of imposters 

Unbeknownst to the Togo FA a friendly was organised between Togo and Bahrain in 2010, and a team of imposters turned up for the match.

Bahrain rolled past the team of punters winning 3-0 in a match described by a handful of Bahrain players as ‘boring.’

We don't think their opposition were too concerned, having scammed their way into playing an international match. 

Liverpool's mythical signing

Didier Baptise was a character played by Actor Tom Redhill on the British drama ‘Dream Team’ who came to life when an Arsenal fan site claimed the make-believe footballer had signed for Liverpool.

The Times, News of the World and The Guardian ran the ‘exclusive’ story, claiming the defender was about to sign for Gerard Houlier’s side from Monaco in 1999.

News of the World was understandably embarrassed and vowed to launch an ‘urgent investigation in to the matter.’

"We were as amazed as anyone to see this story in the papers," a spokesman for Dream Team said. "We can only assume someone saw the show and thought it was genuine."

Allessandro Zarelli - Lisburn Distillery

The only player on this list whose career kicked on after his scam was exposed, Zarelli shopped himself around to clubs in Northern Ireland and Wales by purporting to be a Rangers and Syeffield Wednesday academy graduate.

In reality, Zarelli was an amateur punter who played a hand full of Youth football games for .C.D Asti.

Zarelli’s audacious claims move paid off and was signed on a brief deal by Lisburn Distillery in Northern Ireland’s first division before being released soon after.

The smooth talking Italian was eventually exposed by a Sky TV documentary Super Fakes, which should have spelled the end of his career, but the smooth talking Italian took it all in his stride and went on to play for 24 clubs over the next 11 years. The Semi-professional now plays for Hallen AFC in the 10th tier of English football.