A FORMER Southend United youth player who was jailed after posing as a Premier League star and conning a TV personality is at the centre of new ITV documentary.

Medi Abalimba, now 34, was jailed for four years back in 2014 for fraud totalling £163,000.

Abalimba was once a promising footballer and was earning around £20,000 a week at one stage with Derby County and even had trails at Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool.

However, due to a “lack of discipline and commitment” he slipped down the leagues, but this didn’t stop him from continuing to live the high life by passing himself off as Chelsea player Gael Kakuta.

As a result, he was staying in the best rooms in the finest hotels, running up bar tabs of thousands of pounds, being chauffeur-driven around in a Bentley and blowing thousands using stolen credit card details.

Abalimba played two seasons as a youth player for Southend United after being recommended by scouts at the time in 2008. He went on to play 34 games in total.

Southend United believed he was 16 years old at the time when Abalimba played for the U18s – but in fact he was nearly 20.

A documentary has now been released by ITVX titled “The Footballer Fraudster”.

Within the documentary, Dr Donna Youngs, a forensic psychologist, says she has “rarely come across a fraud case as extreme as that of Abalimba”.

She added: “In all the studies that we have done looking at fraudsters, Media Abalimba is really quite unusual.

“Every time he gets caught; he reinvents himself. He is so accomplished at deceiving; he almost can’t stop. He believes he can conquer the world.

“I have not come across a case like Medi Abalimba before.”

Abalimba was released from prison in 2018, however, he again changed his identify and was later jailed after targeting Love Island star Georgia Steel.

Georgia, who featured heavily in the documentary, spoke about how she didn’t think he was a “thief or predator” and that he “looked like the had money”.

Abalimba had a six-week relationship with Georgia in 2019, before she found out his true identify after £32,000 had been spent from her accounts.

He was arrested and put behind bars, but while in jail he spoke on the phone to Claire Merry – the former wife of Thierry Henry.

However, Claire later noticed after Abalimba’s release, £50,000 was missing from her bank account. Abalimba was later jailed for another four years and two months in September 2021.