Who is Moussa Diaby? The in-demand French winger snapped up by Aston Villa
With the summer transfer window in full swing the major deals are now coming thick and fast - with the Premier League in particular spending hundreds of millions of pounds on new talent.
One of the latest stars to move to the UK is new Aston Villa winger Moussa Diaby - who joined the Monchi Midlands revolution from Bayer Leverkusen for a huge €55m fee.
Villa are having a strong transfer window on the back of qualifying for a European competition for the first time in over a decade. Backed by an ambitious ownership group, there are promising signs the club will push on to challenge for the top-six positions next season.
After capturing Pau Torres and Youri Tielemans, the Villains broke their club transfer record to sign French star Diaby. He is already having an incredible start for his new club and scored in both of his pre-season appearances so far.
So what is Moussa Diaby’s story?
Diaby came through the famous PSG youth academy, where he won the award for the most promising youth player at the club in 2016. That should tell you a lot about his prodigious talent.
However, one of the consequences of emerging from the PSG youth setup is that even high-quality talents find their pathway to the first team blocked.
This was the case with Diaby, who was loaned out to Italian club Crotone for the second half of the 2017/18 season. After returning to PSG, he broke into the first team under Thomas Tuchel and made 25 Ligue 1 appearances in 2018/19.
When PSG chose to sign winger Pablo Sarabia the following summer though, Diaby decided to move to Bayer Leverkusen to get regular first-team football.
The move to the Bundesliga turned out to be great for the development of the 24-year-old, as in four seasons Diaby scored 31 goals and provided 38 assists. He now joins Villa as one the finest young wide players in Europe.
Moussa Diaby Transfer Value - how much is he worth?
Our Expected Transfer Value (xTV) model currently values Diaby at €51.7 million. That is not too far away from the reported €55m Villa parted with for his services.
Goalscoring wingers are always in high demand.
When you are also capped 10 times by France, have two years left on your contract and are also generating interest from Arsenal, Newcastle, PSG and Al Nassr from the big-spending Saudi Pro League, a massive fee is inevitable.
So it is no surprise Villa had to spend big to get their man.
Moussa Diaby stats, strengths and weaknesses
Diaby will take the field next season for a Villa side who scored only 51 Premier League goals last season. The diminutive player is a master ball striker and found the net 14 and 17 times over the past two seasons.
His exploits in this area will be a huge boost for manager Unai Emery.
But Diaby does so much more than just score goals. He can play off both wings and is also adept at operating as a second striker. This versatility gives his manager plenty of tactical options to play around with.
Emery can now move away from his favoured diamond shape and shift towards a setup which can stretch the opposition using additional width.
With 1.7 successful take-ons and 0.50 crosses into penalty area P90, the left-footed attacker can play like a classic winger, by taking his man on and whipping in balls for his team-mates. Even more impressive is the fact Diaby’s crosses have an Expected Assist (xA) value of 0.08 per90 and his take-ons are in the 90th percentile in leading to goals.
He screams end product.
Diaby also excels in the role of an inverted winger, where he starts on the right and uses his ball carrying to cut in onto his stronger foot. His 4.17 progressive carries and 2.43 carries into the final third per90 last season put him amongst the best wingers in the Bundesliga.
When he cuts inside, he has the awareness and technical ability to not just take accurate shots but to also combine with his team-mates. A testament to this ability are his 1.93 key passes and 0.40 through balls per90.
Diaby’s defensive contribution is his biggest weakness. There are no easy games in the Premier League and this area needs to be shored up if he wants to take his game to the next level.
This exciting forward’s growing stature has seen him become an important part of the French national team, and his continued development is likely to be a game changer for an exciting Aston Villa team next season.