Former Manchester City forward Emile Mpenza once missed training… because he had an erection

EMILE MPENZA is most famed for his flop of a season in the Premier League at Manchester City.

The Belgian forward, now 38, spent the 2007-08 campaign at the Etihad under Sven-Goran Eriksson – the final season before the club’s big-money takeover.

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Mpenza netted just five goals in 25 goals at City, before he was shipped off to Paul Sturrock’s Plymouth Argyle in the summer – to be replaced by Robinho.

Perhaps now Mpenza will go down in history for another reason, after Scottish boss Sturrock revealed all about a particularly hard day at training.

The Scot claimed he was left deflated often as Mpenza would fail to turn up for the club’s sessions on numerous occasions, with one particularly sticking in the memory…

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...The time the Belgian claimed he couldn't come, due to an erection.

In his book, Sturrock wrote: "The former Manchester City striker was paid off the following summer by which time he had hoovered up thousands of pounds in wages and set a new record in terms of excuses for injury absences.

"I think the best one from Emile or his advisor, God knows I was losing the will to live let alone listen to his litany of misery, came when I asked the oft-repeated question, 'Has anyone seen the boy Mpenza?'

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"I was told, in all seriousness, that Emile had taken Viagra the previous night and still had an erection and wouldn't be able to take part in training.

"The excuse has gone down in the annals of urban myth, but I swear it's true.

"Even by football's standards of surreal moments, it is in a class of its own."