Moussa Diaby | signed for villa

Status
Not open for further replies.

MyOnlySolskjaer

Creator of Player Performance threads
Joined
Nov 27, 2014
Messages
27,665
Location
Player Performance Threads
moussa-diaby-2.png


Full Name: Moussa Diaby
Date of birth: Jul 7, 1999 (22)
Nationality: France
50.png

Other Nationalities: Mali
105.png

Height: 170cm
Position: Attack - Left Winger/Right Winger
Foot: Left
Current club: Bayer 04 Leverkusen
15.png

Joined: Jul 1, 2019
Contract expires: Jun 30, 2025
Date of last contract extension: Dec 17, 2020​
 
Mane 2.0
Been on my radar since 2020 but was turned off by his lack of end product. Seems he has improved in that aspect recently though ( or could just be a purple patch. You never know).
 
Easy enough. Sell Rashford, use the funds to finance Diaby.
 
Would rather prefer someone like Raphinha for that price.
 
He's having a good season, but it seems to me that his decision making is a significant weakness and so he profits a lot from Leverkusen's counter attacking football creating simple situations for him. I wouldn't be surprised if he'd struggle playing in a team that has to play at a slower tempo and €60m sound extremely generous to me, I'd price him around €30m.
 
M16Red said:
I'm a huge fan of Januzaj, but sadly he has not kicked on at all. When ever I watch him, I find myself more excited by Alexander Isak he is a target man that likes to link up play.



My favourite at the moment is Moussa Diaby for that RW spot if Sancho is not achievable

He reminds me of another player who plays in red and is a very powerful runner and explosive
Click to expand...


From August 2020. He does really remind me of Manè
 
do.ob said:
He's having a good season, but it seems to me that his decision making is a significant weakness and so he profits a lot from Leverkusen's counter attacking football creating simple situations for him. I wouldn't be surprised if he'd struggle playing in a team that has to play at a slower tempo and €60m sound extremely generous to me, I'd price him around €30m.
Click to expand...

I know very little about this lad but from your post i think the last thing we need is someone that thrives in space on the counter. We need to look at players that play well against low blocks.
 
I said before we should get him for the right wing.

He's absolutely rapid, a great ball carrier and can cross really well. He's the sort of player we should be aiming for.
 
Out of interest, how's the lad at Watford doing? The winger that we tried to get on a loan deal a few seasons back.
 
do.ob said:
He's having a good season, but it seems to me that his decision making is a significant weakness and so he profits a lot from Leverkusen's counter attacking football creating simple situations for him. I wouldn't be surprised if he'd struggle playing in a team that has to play at a slower tempo and €60m sound extremely generous to me, I'd price him around €30m.
Click to expand...

€30m for Diaby :lol: 25 scorers in 34 games this season, french international. Go away.
 
Smores said:
I know very little about this lad but from your post i think the last thing we need is someone that thrives in space on the counter. We need to look at players that play well against low blocks.
Click to expand...
That's true, and it absolutely isn't the be-all and end-all in football, but we do need some lightening pace back in the side. We're a long way from the MMM in behind to now having Ronaldo and Fernandes slowly hobble to the goal. Sancho is extremely quick in the mind but a sprinter he is not.

For the sake of balance and adding something fresh to the team, we need a right winger who can really stretch his legs.
 
Think his technique is quite untidy from what I’ve seen; but he’s an interesting prospect.
 
ForEverEleven said:
€30m for Diaby :lol: 25 scorers in 34 games this season, french international. Go away.
Click to expand...

Well, Leverkusen almost certainly wouldn't accept a €30m offer for him, but that doesn't necessarily mean clubs should bid much more.
 
Last edited:
Not a 60 mill player even in Euros. Nkunku would be the better option at the quoted prices.
 
It's only one half and since I'm posting this I half expect him to score in the second, but it's a good example for why I have a few reservations about him - at least when people start talking about a €60m fee. In the absence of Wirtz it's up to him to step up and his team even played him through like 3 or 4 times, but thus far: 13 touches, 1/7 (!) successful passes, 0 dribbles, 0 shots.
 
Last edited:
do.ob said:
It's only one half and since I'm posting this I half expect him to score in the second, but it's a good example for why I have a few reservations about him - at least when people start talking about a €60m fee. In the absence of Wirtz it's up to him to step up and his team even played him through like 3 or 4 times, but thus far: 13 touches, 1/7 (!) successful passes, 0 dribbles, 0 shots.
Click to expand...

I only saw the game sporadically so I can't judge on this particular instance but while I was generally your opinion on Diaby, I believe he has seriously improved his decision making and focus this season. He made a big step since the first half of the season, IMO, and cut the unnecessary giveaways of possession to a far smaller share and also is more composed in front of the goal.

I think €30m was never going to be a fair price for him, even last season. He's a similar player to Dembele for me (incredibly fast, sometimes simpl undefendable when full fly, two footed but also quite erratic at times) and we all know the sum Barca paid for him. So I'd say €60m is a fair evaluation for Diaby. No Havertz, Sancho or Wirtz kind of talent but still has a very high ceiling and is constantly improving.
 
Zehner said:
I only saw the game sporadically so I can't judge on this particular instance but while I was generally your opinion on Diaby, I believe he has seriously improved his decision making and focus this season. He made a big step since the first half of the season, IMO, and cut the unnecessary giveaways of possession to a far smaller share and also is more composed in front of the goal.

I think €30m was never going to be a fair price for him, even last season. He's a similar player to Dembele for me (incredibly fast, sometimes simpl undefendable when full fly, two footed but also quite erratic at times) and we all know the sum Barca paid for him. So I'd say €60m is a fair evaluation for Diaby. No Havertz, Sancho or Wirtz kind of talent but still has a very high ceiling and is constantly improving.
Click to expand...


I wouldn't make that comparison at all. I would have guessed that his defensive stats are a lot better, but in general his stat profile tells the story in my opinion:
M8IzHn0.png


The middle section is outright pathetic for a supposed €60m winger. He doesn't really participate in his team's build up, he doesn't really carry the ball or dribble a lot, his main strength in that bracket is receiving the ball in high areas of the pitch (after the opposition exposed itself on a counter attack or Wirtz did his thing).

What he has going for him this year is his finishing, which has been pretty great (though for the first time in his career), his xA is good as well, but I wonder how much of that is because of Leverkusen's counter attacking style, where you can milk a lot of xA by just squaring it inside the box. And I wonder how much of it will remain now that Wirtz isn't there to run the attack for his team.

Dembele on the other hand is indeed erratic, but he's a player that can run his team and when his high risk/high reward moves pay off he does stuff that a lot of other players, including Diaby, can only dream of.
 
Eighth fastest player in the bundesliga. Very small/light. Seems to run slightly less than most playing his position at around 10km per match. Seems to have a very strong left leg from the YouTube I just watched :D
 
do.ob said:
I wouldn't make that comparison at all. I would have guessed that his defensive stats are a lot better, but in general his stat profile tells the story in my opinion:
M8IzHn0.png


The middle section is outright pathetic for a supposed €60m winger. He doesn't really participate in his team's build up, he doesn't really carry the ball or dribble a lot, his main strength in that bracket is receiving the ball in high areas of the pitch (after the opposition exposed itself on a counter attack or Wirtz did his thing).

What he has going for him this year is his finishing, which has been pretty great (though for the first time in his career), his xA is good as well, but I wonder how much of that is because of Leverkusen's counter attacking style, where you can milk a lot of xA by just squaring it inside the box. And I wonder how much of it will remain now that Wirtz isn't there to run the attack for his team.

Dembele on the other hand is indeed erratic, but he's a player that can run his team and when his high risk/high reward moves pay off he does stuff that a lot of other players, including Diaby, can only dream of.
Click to expand...

Thing is, the market decides what a player is worth. I wouldn't pay €60m for an erratic player either but enough clubs are willing to do that. The statstical section you're referring to isn't dissimilar to that of, say, Raphinha or even Dembele today based on their fbref scouting reports. And a quick check of WhoScored suggests that Dembele had a passing accuracy of 66% (!) in his Dortmund season.

I also disagree that Diaby can only dream of the things Dembele is able to do. Diaby has had some plays for us which are just as jawdropping. He's actually a very, very similar player to him, especially during his Dortmund days (of which fbref unfortunately has no data on). Diaby also has a very similar minutes per scorer ratio as Dembele had in that famous season for Dortmund despite playing in a worse team. And Diaby most definitely seems less injury prone than Dembele. He's older though which explains why he's worth less but not by that much.

Think you have Dortmund tilted glasses on regarding this comparison. Dembele was no Sancho or Götze level of talent. But people love pace and some teams are willing to pay crazy amounts for it, even if the player has major shortcomings.
 
Zehner said:
Thing is, the market decides what a player is worth. I wouldn't pay €60m for an erratic player either but enough clubs are willing to do that. The statstical section you're referring to isn't dissimilar to that of, say, Raphinha or even Dembele today based on their fbref scouting reports. And a quick check of WhoScored suggests that Dembele had a passing accuracy of 66% (!) in his Dortmund season.

I also disagree that Diaby can only dream of the things Dembele is able to do. Diaby has had some plays for us which are just as jawdropping. He's actually a very, very similar player to him, especially during his Dortmund days (of which fbref unfortunately has no data on). Diaby also has a very similar minutes per scorer ratio as Dembele had in that famous season for Dortmund despite playing in a worse team. And Diaby most definitely seems less injury prone than Dembele. He's older though which explains why he's worth less but not by that much.

Think you have Dortmund tilted glasses on regarding this comparison. Dembele was no Sancho or Götze level of talent. But people love pace and some teams are willing to pay crazy amounts for it, even if the player has major shortcomings.
Click to expand...

Are you telling me that these two pictures look the same to you and mind you that's a "flopped" Dembele vs "peak" Diaby?
M8IzHn0.png
qhpRrrX.png


Tuchel even played Dembele as sort of a CM in a cup final, because he was so central to the way Dortmund build their attacks, that's what I mean by running a team, it's similar to the influence Wirtz has on the current Leverkusen side. Diaby on the other hand is almost the opposite of that. Only the three strikers have fewer passes completed per 90. In terms of players dribbled past per 90 he's 5th.

Sure, you can say a player is worth what another club pays for him. And considering PL clubs paid €90m(?) for Maguire, €50m for AWB, €110m for Lukaku or €50m for Werner someone might cough up €60m for Diaby. But based on that logic anyone could be worth anything, because there's always a chance you'll find a sucker with more money than sense.
 
Last edited:
Kicker have more or less dedicated an entire article to Diaby's "inexplicable" drop in form that happened to coincide with Wirtz' injury. They highlight that in his last two games he completed one dribbling and had a 11% defensive duel success rate in.
They quote Leverkusen's DoF with "Moussa is living off his ability to finalize situations [...] Obviously Moussa can do better - but the team, which has to set him up, too."
https://www.kicker.de/seoane-und-das-neue-alte-raetsel-um-diaby-899246/artikel
 
I don't see why we need him. Even if Sancho was sold, we would still have Rashford, Garnacho, Antony and Amad. The money would be better invested on either a Casemiro deputy, a top right back, or cover for Martinez.
 
I don't really think he's good enough for a team that looks to dominate possession.

For a team that looks to counterattack and in a league where he has a lot of space, he's very dangerous.
 
No more attackers who have only ever proven anything in a league where Wout Weghorst is a 1 in 2 striker, please.
 
Clearly bullshit. I doubt we will have funds left after buying a striker. If we do there are other priorities.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.