Mouctar Diakhaby (born 19 December 1996) is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back or defensive midfielder for La Liga club Valencia. Born in France, he plays for the Guinea national team.

Mouctar Diakhaby
Diakhaby playing for Guinea at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations
Personal information
Full name Mouctar Diakhaby[1]
Date of birth (1996-12-19) 19 December 1996 (age 27)
Place of birth Vendôme, France
Height 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)[2]
Position(s) Centre-back, defensive midfielder
Team information
Current team
Valencia
Number 4
Youth career
2004–2009 USSA Vertou
2009–2010 Nantes
2010–2013 USSA Vertou
2013–2016 Lyon
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014–2018 Lyon B 55 (11)
2016–2018 Lyon 34 (2)
2018– Valencia 142 (7)
International career
2014–2015 France U19 11 (1)
2015–2016 France U20 6 (0)
2017–2018 France U21 9 (1)
2022– Guinea 14 (1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 00:34, 30 April 2024 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 2 February 2024

Early life

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Diakhaby was born in Vendôme, France, to Guinean parents, who were from Touba.[3]

Club career

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Lyon

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Diakhaby made his first team debut for Lyon on 10 September 2016 in a Ligue 1 match against Bordeaux, playing the whole match in a 3–1 home loss.[4] On 30 November 2016, he scored his first competitive goal for the Lyon first team in a 6–0 Ligue 1 away rout of Nantes.[5] On 23 February 2017, Diakhaby scored a goal (in the 89th minute) in the 2016–17 Europa League round of 32 second-leg 7–1 home win over AZ Alkmaar to register his first career UEFA Europa League or UEFA Champions League goal.[6] He also scored a goal in each of two legs of the 2016–17 Europa League round of 16 tie against Roma.

Valencia

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Diakhaby with Valencia in 2021

On 28 June 2018, Diakhaby signed a five-year deal with Spanish side Valencia.[7] On 3 March 2024, he sustained a serious injury, diagnosed as a dislocated knee, following a collision with Aurélien Tchouaméni during a match against Real Madrid.[8]

International career

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Diakhaby was born in France, but is Guinean by descent.[9] He is a former youth international for France. In 2022 however he decided to represent the home country of his parents, Guinea, and debuted for them against Egypt.

On 23 December 2023, he was selected from the list of 25 Guinean players selected by Kaba Diawara to compete in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.

Career statistics

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Club

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As of match played 2 March 2024[10][11]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[a] League cup[b] Europe Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Lyon 2016–17 Ligue 1 22 1 1 1 0 0 11[c] 3 0 0 34 5
2017–18 12 1 3 0 1 0 5[d] 1 21 2
Total 34 2 4 1 1 0 16 4 0 0 55 7
Valencia 2018–19 La Liga 22 2 7 0 9[e] 1 38 3
2019–20 21 0 3 0 5[f] 0 0 0 29 0
2020–21 26 1 1 0 27 1
2021–22 29 0 8 0 37 0
2022–23 29 3 1 0 0 0 30 3
2023–24 14 1 1 0 15 1
Total 142 7 21 0 14 1 0 0 177 8
Career total 176 9 25 1 1 0 30 5 0 0 232 15
  1. ^ Includes Coupe de France, Copa del Rey
  2. ^ Includes Coupe de la Ligue
  3. ^ Two appearances in UEFA Champions League, eight appearances and three goals in UEFA Europa League
  4. ^ Appearance(s) in UEFA Europa League
  5. ^ Three appearances in UEFA Champions League, six appearances and one goal in UEFA Europa League
  6. ^ Appearance(s) in UEFA Champions League

International

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As of match played 2 February 2024[12]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Guinea 2022 4 1
2023 5 0
2024 5 0
Total 14 1
Scores and results list Guinea's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Diakhaby goal.[12]
List of international goals scored by Mouctar Diakhaby
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 27 September 2022 Stade de la Licorne, Amiens, France   Ivory Coast 1–3 1–3 Friendly

Honours

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Valencia

References

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  1. ^ "Acta del Partido celebrado el 18 de mayo de 2019, en Valladolid" [Minutes of the Match held on 18 May 2019, in Valladolid] (in Spanish). Royal Spanish Football. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  2. ^ "Mouctar Diakhaby". LaLiga Santander. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
  3. ^ "Player profile — Mouctar Diakhaby". thesportsdb.com. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  4. ^ "Lyon vs. Bordeaux - 10 September 2016 - Soccerway". soccerway.com. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  5. ^ "Nantes vs. Olympique Lyonnais - 30 November 2016 - Soccerway". soccerway.com. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  6. ^ "Lyon rejoint les 8es de finale de Ligue Europa après un festival". L'Équipe. 23 February 2017.
  7. ^ "Valence officialise le recrutement de Mouctar Diakhaby (Lyon)". L'Équipe. 28 June 2017.
  8. ^ "Valencia issue Mouctar Diakhaby update after horrific injury against Real Madrid - which left players averting their eyes in horror". Goal.com. 3 March 2024.
  9. ^ "Ligue 1-OL : Mouctar Diakhaby veut améliorer son jeu de tête" [Ligue 1-OL : Mouctar Diakhaby wants to improve his head game]. africatopsports.com (in French). Africa Top Sports. 15 November 2016. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  10. ^ "M. Diakhaby". Soccerway. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  11. ^ "Mouctar Diakhaby". SofaScore. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
  12. ^ a b "Mouctar Diakhaby". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  13. ^ "Barcelona 1–2 Valencia". BBC Sport. 25 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
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