With eight goal involvements in his first 17 Premier League matches, Moussa Diaby has enjoyed a productive start to his Aston Villa career. The 24-year-old winger always had an edge to his game with his speed and technique, as those who have been close to his development in France and Germany explain to Arthur Renard.
Player analysis - Moussa Diaby
Morade Djeddi remembers the day very well. Back in 2010, the president of local club Esperance Paris 19 had one of his youth teams playing in a district cup final at the Stade de France against their local rivals FC Solitaires, with whom they share a ground back at the Jules Ladoumegue sports centre.
Things didn’t look bright at half-time, though, as his team were losing 1-4. But then, in the second half, a 10-year old turned the game around. A certain Diaby inspired his team to victory with a very convincing display.
“He scored four goals all with different finishes, which led to us winning the game 6-5,” recalls Djeddi. “After this day I watched the highlights of that game many times.”
The president and other people at the club already knew they had a special talent on their books. “We knew he had the quality to become a professional,” says Djeddi.
He has seen quite a lot of talent coming through the ranks over the years, so Djeddi is in a good position when it comes to assessing a young player’s potential.
“In our club we had players like Herold Goulon [ex-Blackburn Rovers], Abdoulaye Meite [ex-Bolton Wanderers] and Amine Harit [currently at Marseille], among others,” says Djeddi.
“In that final we also had current professionals like Youssouf Fofana [Monaco] and Yahia Fofana [Angers]. There was a big potential in that team at the time.”
Starting out
Diaby’s story began in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, where the youngster with Malian roots grew up, one of 10 siblings and was invited to play for L’Esperance.
“When he was seven or eight he played football with his friends and I already felt he was gifted,” Djeddi says.
“His older brother’s friend was a coach at L’Esperance and asked him to join our club.”
As club president, Djebbi followed Diaby’s development closely and could see his qualities from an early age.
“He was very fast and a very good dribbler,” he says. “An impact player. He had to improve his right foot though.”
At L'Esperance, Diaby caught the eye of Paris Saint-Germain. “When he was 12 he took the Clairefontaine selection tests and PSG scout Pierre Reynaud noticed him,” Djeddi says.
“At first, he continued to play a year with us, but at 13 he went to the PSG academy where he was awarded with a five-year contract.”
Humble character
At PSG his development continued, receiving the Titi d’Or award for best talent in 2016 and signing his first professional deal a year later. For this he asked Djeddi to come along and he remembers the occasion well, also for a little detail which speaks about the player’s humble character.
“He had a broken phone at the moment when he signed,” Djeddi says. “It’s just remarkable, you have a player who is going to sign at PSG for good money and he still has a broken phone. You could see that money was not his priority, he just loves football. He’s a kind and simple man.”
After signing his professional contract, first-team football was hard to come by initially, including under his future Villa head coach Unai Emery. In early 2018 he was loaned to Serie A club Crotone, where he would play two matches.
Although he would have hoped for more, it proved the starting point of more opportunities back home, as Diaby would make 25 league appearances for PSG in 2018/19 under Thomas Tuchel.
Advice from Mbappe
At PSG, team-mate Kylian Mbappe helped Diaby to make more of his pace.
"He told me, ‘You have to use your speed.’" Diaby told the Guardian. "I tried to use his advice and I have improved. You have to learn when you need to use it. The older you get, the more you know your body and mind.
"He helped me with my positioning and also to give me confidence to attack with my quality … I think we have similar qualities, with our pace.”
But because he was not playing week-in, week-out he was open to a move away. He chose Bayer Leverkusen, which Tuchel approved, believing it would be a good step for his learning.
Life at Leverkusen
At the time, Hendrie Kruzen was the Leverkusen assistant coach and remembers the first moments of Diaby well.
“You could see straightaway that he had a lot of qualities, especially with his speed,” Kruzen says. “With those kinds of players, we say in Holland that ‘You put them on a moped and they’re gone.’ The guy had such big potential. And he has fulfilled it.”
In Germany, it took Diaby time to adapt. “When he arrived he was a bit shy and didn’t speak the German language, so it took time to adjust,” says Kruzen. “He needed an initiation period to become the Diaby he is nowadays; it didn’t happen overnight.
“He also had to get used to the way of playing under [head coach] Peter Bosz.”
It helped Diaby that Bosz spoke French from a spell at Toulon.
“Things became easier for him over time, also because he could express himself more with all the other players,” Kruzen says. “Then you also get more feedback from them, which you benefit from.”
Diaby’s potential was clear to see, but there were areas that still needed work.
“I found he had to make certain steps, especially in the final third, ,” explains Kruzen. “Beating an opponent wasn’t really a problem, but he had to learn to keep a more rounded overview in front of goal, like keeping track of his surroundings and team-mates. Sometimes he made too many individual moves.
“If you do that, you have to score, otherwise your team-mates will let you know.
“He responded very well to the things we raised and progressed well. In the end, it’s about whether you do something with the feedback you’re getting from staff and team-mates – and Moussa did. After some time, you saw his progress, and his drive was great to see. It has been a joy to have worked with him; he is a great guy.”
That humility and team ethic of Diaby was on display as a child. “When he was 10, we were participating in a Futsal tournament,” recalls Djeddi. “We were invited the day before the tournament because another team was absent.
“We arrived late on the day, but won the tournament and Moussa was crowned the best player. A coach from another side asked Moussa to give him his father’s telephone number. Instead of doing so, he pointed to his own team’s coach and said, ‘This is my father.’ That revealed how loyal he was. He was very close to that coach; he was almost like his brother.”
When Villa showed their interest in Diaby this summer, the player also had an offer from Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia. But as he explained to the Guardian, a reunion with Emery and the prospect of playing in the Premier League turned his head.
“I decided to come here for the project,” Diaby told the Guardian. “I spoke with the coach and that’s why I wanted to come here. My first idea was to come here because I wanted to play against big teams and everybody knows the Premier League is the best league in the world.”
Premier League impact
At Villa he burst on to the scene with two goals and an assist in his three first Premier League matches. Playing on the right, or as an attacking midfielder, he gave Villa an extra dimension, as was show in the 3-1 win over Luton Town, where Diaby scored one goal and assisted another.
“Diaby was exceptional,” Luton boss Rob Edwards said. “His movement was phenomenal and he posed a real threat. He picks up dangerous positions in pockets of space and the threat he had in behind us today was the difference in the game.”
Game time in the Premier League has been more sparse since, with the resurgence of Leon Bailey and Emery has voiced his desire for Diaby to continue to develop his game.
But the 24-year-old has shown he is able to adapt and learn to take his career on to the next level and with Villa chasing the top four, European glory and the FA Cup soon, there will be plenty of chances to shine.
Arthur Renard is a Dutch journalist specialising in European football. https://arthurrenard.com/