The headline is possibly premature, as Diaby hasn’t put pen to paper yet, but it’s looking very likely now that Romano has indicated it’s a done deal.
I was going to write a post about this myself, but young Alfie Ricketts has written in with his opinion, which is way better than me commenting all the time.
Cheers Alfie!
As reported by Tier 1 Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano, Moussa Diaby became an Aston Villa player this evening for a fee in excess of €50m, joining from Bundlesliga outfit Bayer Leverkusen.
Diaby, 24, played 33 games in the Bundlesliga 22/23 season, scoring a total of 9 goals, and providing 9 assists, for a side that ended their campaign 6th in Germany’s top flight. Previously, in the 21/22 Bundlesliga season, the French winger registered 13 goals and 12 assists in 32 games, albeit Leverkusen finished 3rd that season, trailing to the usual two, Bayern and Dortmund.
In and around the fan base, there will be many folk screaming ”Bailey 2.0”, all skill and pace but no end product, but what to expect from Moussa Diaby? Well, as much as I despise the comparison of two professional footballers, it is hard to let the fact that the substantiation of Moussa Diaby’s end product towers over that of Leon Bailey. In my opinion, we have a rapid, skillful winger, who implements those attributes into his game in order to generate an end product, whilst clearly working well with those around him, as proved by the assist count.
Additionally, despite not receiving much of a look in, understandably due to the likes of Mbappe and Benzema, Moussa Diaby has received 9 international caps for the French national team already. I presume a big factor in Diaby’s decision to join Aston Villa, is the higher chance of winning caps for the French setup when playing in the Premiership. Now it’s his chance to prove himself on the big stage, he will be out to do that in true style under Unai Emery.
Overall, Diaby has established himself as a winger with decent end product and someone who wants to work his way into the France squad, which will be done by his, hopefully impressive, performances for Aston Villa. I am confident that we have hit the nail on the head with this one; we’ve got it right, Diaby is for sure the player I am most excited to watch next season, and I am incredibly happy with this transfer on a personal basis.
UTV 🙂
Comments
91 responses to “Diaby Signs – Now here’s what to expect from the winger.”
Just a quick update – other outlets are reporting it as a ‘laughable and derisory bid’.
I can’t believe Villa would sell unless a ridiculous bid came in from -say – Saudi Pro League and even then Villa would insist on finding a replacement first which would not be straightforward although Raya might be a possibility.
FWIW, I can’t see Emi leaving this window. He has commented that having qualified for the Conference league, he now wants to win it with Villa. He left a bigger club than Villa to play regularly which shows his passion for playing. I genuinely think he feels he owes Villa for resurrecting his career and giving him the platform to break into the Argentinian team and the rest is history.
I think he might be tempted next summer if we don’t qualify for European football and he is approached by a team that qualify for Champions league.
And ifbwe do step up and make top 4, then CL for all Villains!!!
Just watched the highlights impressive but the onr player on the pitch that was above and beyond was (imo) Anderson.
This lad is the best midfielder I’ve seen since Gascoigne.
Pity he chose Scotland.
Confirmed, Sanson gone to Nice on season long loan. Villa haven’t confirmed the option to buy which has been reported elsewhere.
Didn’t work out at Villa but I still wish him the best.
Wonder who will take his No 8 shirt?
Luton interested in Davis – suggested price £7m and Watford supposedly interested in Wesley now that Sarr has gone.
Team Talk reckon about Martinez offer “a bid of roughly double their opening offer will reportedly be required – €30m (approx. £25.8m). Indeed, the article states Aston Villa ‘would want about double what Inter offered’ first up.”
“Losing a player of Martinez’s undoubted class would be a significant blow to Villa, even if they did make a profit on a player who is now the wrong side of 30.”
Team Talk in any way related to Talk Shite? I know I shouldn’t be reeled in by complete crap reporting but it makes my blood boil that they are even allowed to come up with this! 😡🤬
But aren’t goalie’s years different to outfield players? Many of the best goalies have played until 40 or after (Pat Jennings, Shilton, Friedel etc) so, in real terms, Emi is only around 27 or so.
There are other reports in Italy saying Inter haven’t made an offer for Martinez and are concentrating on signing Yang Sommer from Bayern Munich. They also cast doubt on whether Inter could actually afford Martinez!
*Yann Sommer
Emery has said that neither Archer nor Duran are under consideration for loan deals as both will be needed for the season ahead.
With Diaby able to play three positions across the front line does that suggest that Villa are not looking for another central striker this summer?
I don’t think that I’d be overly disappointed if we didn’t get another striker. Emery has a good record with introducing younger players into the first team and I really think that it’s time for Cam Archer to fill his boots. Also wondering, with the riches that we now have in mid-field, if e.g. McGinn or even Luiz might not play further forward at times. Both can score goals.
I’ve got a feeling that the opposition are going to find us being a little more unpredictable this season as Emery likes to change the tactics for each game. At last, I think he might actually have the players to do this and, with all the extra games, to be able to rotate players too.
Interesting times ahead.
Indeed 1874.
For the first time since O’Neill we are starting to build a seriously good squad of players; the difference between the two though is Emery backed by NSWE which further increases the strength of the team and the club.
In hindsight O’Neill made a lot of mistakes in the way he handled players, in transfer dealings and in the strategy he adopted in Europe. A second Brian Clough he was not!
I really don’t see Emery repeating those type of mistakes.
Totally agree with your comments about MON.
Yes, he did manage to find some good players, but he also wasted some; and he never seemed to have a ‘Plan B’ in matches where it was clear pretty quickly that ‘Plan A’ wasn’t working.
From what we’ve seen of Emery so far, he seems ready to change plans during games very quickly if he needs to – and now he may actually have enough quality in the squad to be able to do so.
Off topic but a cautionary tale nonetheless.
It seems Wolves are in dire FFP trouble even after the Saudi Pro league tried to help out by over paying for Neves.
According to Lopetegui having sold four players raising £84m and only signing one on a free, they’re still not in a position to replace those sold.
Lopetegui said he had sought assurances that money would be available to ensure Wolves are competitive but now says ‘we had a Plan A, we’ve fallen back on Plan B and it now seems even that’s not possible’.
We were bailed out of the FFP mire by the Jack Grealish sale – now we have to be careful not to leap back into that particular fire by overspending to a point where one poor season could pull the FFP house down.
Hitchen’s and friends
Is FFP dead? Apparently the UEFA equivalent that Saudi Arabia belong to has not put in place FFP.
Either FIFA have to intercede and pass a rule that binds all football federations to some form of FFP or UEFA will have to scrap their FFP. See how golf and boxing have bent the knee. There is too much vested interest from Europe to allow our clubs to wither on the vine. At this point our owners have an advantage over the majority of premier clubs.
The key question is how many football teams Saudi Arabia want to finance in their league. If it’s four then with a 25 man squad they could buy the best 100 players in the world. There after each additional club would suck in another 25 players based on ‘normal’ squad sizes.
If 4 clubs of 25 players were on Henderson’s wages this equates to £3.64bn per year. To Saudis Arabia this is a drop in the ocean. Let’s say they created a league of 20 teams. That equates to £18.2bn per year with 500 of the best players on the planet. Remember Ronaldo is on a reported £173m per year.
It would not take much for Saudi Arabia to televise this league across the world and be profitable. The only way to stop it is for all countries to ban companies paying for rights to show it. Can this happen? The soul of football is at stake. This is a problem that is not going away. Learner was hampered by the financial crisis and divorce. Please oh please do not let our current owners vision be struck down by a country with more money than God!
Ps on a positive note. My family and I are on holiday in Thailand. Tonight went to a Thai kick boxing event. Who should sit next to me but Aaron a fellow Villa fan. He is also of the belief Emery is brilliant, that Villa as a club are united and that this season is going to be special. It made my night.
Sid – I think it’s simpler.
Saudi Pro League will just buy the Premier League as they have done with golf.
Remember the Premier League is owned by the EPL teams on an equal share basis. All Saudi have to do is offer around £20bn – job done. I mean which owner is going to turn down a share of that?
And I can see them doing it.
FIFA and EUFA would have to bow the knee – no way could they ban EPL clubs from participating in European competition.
Where would that leave FFP?
What about the USA and Messi? How can they afford him? The fight is over. Money has won.
Good job our owners are loaded!!! Lol!!! The thing is, if there are so many rich clubs now, there aren’t enough top level players to fill every squad. They’ll simply end up with one or two superstars and the rest will be average. That’ll be interesting…
Impressive
We’re going to be hard to beat.
Coutinho, if we could get him right, what a player?
Diaby impressive.
Buendía, how can a player go from the sublime to ridiculous?
Archer, not convinced.
90 minutes delay to the match, I don’t think it was worth staying up. Villa won 2-0 despite Fulham having possession for minutes at a time. In the first half Fulham did nothing with their possession but in the second half they tested the Villa defence hard, Callum Chambers outstanding.
I don’t think Archer did himself any favours, running offside often and having a penalty saved. His replacement, Diaby scored with his second possession, a strong left foot drive across the keeper. So he is left footed. If we need a right-footed right winger, we have got one. Philogene impressed again and converted Digne’s low centre for the first.. I think we overpaid for Telemans, and we are overpaying Coutinho. Revan looks a competent stand in at left back.
Now that Leeds are gone and Palace have lost wind-up Saha – Fulham are likely to have the worst disciplinary record in the EPL if their tackling from behind here is a foretaste. But Brentford are capable of knocking teams about so we will see next how much damage they can do.
Interesting observation on Tielemans given he was awarded Man of the Match 🙂 !
Villa coaching staff are on record as saying they knew he was a good player but since raring at VP now reckon he’s an even better player than they originally thought!
As he came for nowt, I assume you are referring to his wages OLL?
Personally, I think it’s an excellent piece of business unlike Coutinho who, on showings to date, is not worth the transfer fee nor his wages. Still time for his mate Gerrard to offer us a shedload of cash and take him to Saudi.
*arriving at VP
RSS, think you got that review about right. Great that Diaby scored a good goal but Watkins (despite getting a goal) seems to be in the USA to visit Disneyland. Someone needs to get into his head and remind him of what he really can do. First touch is awful. Archer is better than that so maybe he can push Watkins to better things. I’m always hopeful but now I’m a confident hopeful.
When I watch Archer like I did last night he’s got all the raw attributes to do well. His movement is great. Yes he was offside a few times but those pitches out there are so slow, so I just thought his timing is better suited to English pitches. To me he just needs a run of games now at the top level. That first touch to win the penalty was sublime, yes he should have scored the penalty but it was also a top save. I feel he just offers different to Watkins. Which is great when Emery wants to try a different tactic as he likes to sit in between or just off the 2 CB’s and feed off the little through balls, whereas I find Watkins to be a more all rounder, come deep, give and go etc. Is there a place for both, not for me personally but he does give us something different whether that be starting or off the bench which I like and could be a good weapon for Emery with our European adventure this season. Philogene was quality again. He has really improved his physical presence since he first came on as a sub some years ago against Spurs. I can see him seriously breaking through this season. Diaby also looked quality so happy days. Looking forward to watching the Brentford game at a more reasonable time! Shattered this morning.
Maybe Archer may become the next big thing but you have to say it as you see it so –
A missed penalty and a one on one?
A plethora of off sides?
Really not convinced.
Agree with Adam on Archer at this point. His two touches prior to stubbing his toe to win the penalty showed his predatory instinct. His trajectory was away from the goal when receiving the ball but the only thing in his mind was to adjust his feet and body to drive directly towards goal, creating panic at the back for the opposition. Yes his finishing was off but it’s pre-season. We don’t want players in top gear now and can’t reasonably expect it. If he gets a run in the team, he will produce, I’m sure of it. For me, bigger question marks over Duran at this point.
I hope you are both right and he’s the next Michael Owen 🤞
Just a thought but were the games on astroturf or grass?
Still think we need someone rather better than Olsen as back-up to Martinez; unfortunately, while the media still keep linking us to yet more mid-fielders and wingers, nobody seems to have any rumours about a decent ‘keeper.
100% with you Ardent. Olsen was a real worry last season. If Emi or Ollie are seriously injured, Houston we have a problem…
Has DeGea found a club yet? Surely worth a sniff on a free as a backup?
Can’t play with his feet mate, hence why ten Hag let him go
Good point, but still free! 🙂
If you have a few moments and want to get the feel of a Premier game. https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/12928350/spectacular-player-cam-captures-youri-tielemans-aston-villa-debut
Forgotten striker Louie Barry – remember all the hype surrounding his signing – has signed a contract extension with Villa.
Now 20 he’s off to Stockport on a season long loan.
Do they still see a future at Villa for him or are they trying to improve his sell on price?
Frankly, I don’t see much for him at Villa.
If he had really developed over the last 2-3 seasons while he’s been out on loan, I think he’d be included in the same category as Archer – i.e. somewhere on the fringes of the 1st team – by now.
Looks like another in a long line of kids who looked sensational at 16 or 17, but seem destined for a career in the lower divisions.
Who will probably still end up on £10,000 a week!
Juventus just kicked out of the Europa Conference League –
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/66342566
Not bad news for Emery I should think.
West Ham have had a 20 mill offer for Maguire turned down
Apparently Man Ure want £40m 😂
And when you consider how much we paid for Torres, they really are taking the p***
Olsen can’t play with his hands or his feet.
I’d take my mother over him.
DeGea? Yes please!
Evening, Badger and friends. Just posted an article which might stimulate some debate. Cheers
Breaking news: Arnold Scwarzenegger signs for Al-Bibak on a 3 year contract worth 2 million a week…