Abdou-Lakhad Diallo (born 4 May 1996), known as Abdou Diallo, is a professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

club

RB Leipzig RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (), commonly known as RB Leipzig, and colloquially referred to as Red Bull Leipzig, is a German professional football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company Red Bu ...

, on loan from

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

club

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

. Born in France, he plays for the Senegal national team.

Club career

Monaco

Born in

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 ...

, Diallo joined the youth academy of

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

at the age of 15. On 28 March 2014, he signed his first professional contract with the club. Vice-president of the club, Vadim Vasilyev commented that Diallo "fits perfectly into our sports project. He has a lot of talent and we hope that he will continue to progress alongside the great players of AS Monaco". On 14 December, he made his first team debut, coming on as a substitute for

Bernardo Silva Bernardo Mota Veiga de Carvalho e Silva (; born 10 August 1994), known as Bernardo Silva or simply Bernardo, is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder, forward or a winger for club Manchester City and the P ...

in the extra time of a 1–0 league victory against

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

. In June 2015, Diallo was loaned out to Belgian club

Zulte Waregem Sportvereniging Zulte Waregem (), commonly known as Zulte Waregem or by their nickname Essevee (), is a Belgian professional football club based in Waregem, West Flanders. Zulte Waregem plays in the Belgian First Division A. Their highest finish a ...

for the 2015–16 season. During his stint at the club, he was deployed at an attacking role, scoring three goals in 33 league matches. In December 2016, media reports emerged that Spanish club

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

was interested in signing him. Nevertheless, he made five league appearances during the 2016–17 season, with his side winning the league.

Mainz 05

On 14 July 2017, Diallo moved to

club

Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sportverein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05, Mainz 05 () or simply Mainz (), is a German sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. 1. FSV Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the top ...

, and signed a five-year contract. On 9 September, he scored his first goal for the club in a 3–1 league victory against

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, th ...

. During the season, he was deployed at both back three and back four; and had an 80% pass success rate. He started in 27 league matches during the season.

Borussia Dortmund

On 26 June 2018, Diallo joined

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

on a five-year deal for a fee of €28 million. In an interview, he said that

Ousmane Dembélé Masour Ousmane Dembélé (born 15 May 1997) is a French professional footballer who plays as a winger for La Liga club Barcelona and the France national team. Dembélé began his career at Rennes before joining Borussia Dortmund in 2016. He ...

advised him to join the club. On 15 September, he scored his first goal for the club in a 3–1 league victory against

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

Paris Saint-Germain

On 16 July 2019, Diallo signed for

(PSG) until June 2024. The transfer fee of his deal to the French club was of €32 million. On 3 August 2019, Diallo made his debut for Paris Saint-Germain in the

Trophée des Champions The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the super cups found in many other countries. His ...

, which ended as a 2–1 win for PSG over

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

. He made his league debut against

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; oc, Nimes ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of 148,5 ...

, in a 3–0 home win on 11 August. Diallo's

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

debut came on 18 September, in a 3–0 win against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

. At the end of the 2019–20 season, Diallo received a

winners medal for his contributions that season, which was ended early (on 30 April 2020) due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Loan to RB Leipzig

On 1 September 2022, Diallo completed a return to Germany, signing for Bundesliga club

on a season-long loan with an option-to-buy for a reported fee of €25 million.

International career

Diallo was born in France and is of Senegalese descent. He played for many youth teams of France, and even captained France's under-21s. On 17 March 2021, Diallo was called up to the Senegal national team for the first time. He made his debut in a 0–0 draw against

Congo Congo or The Congo may refer to either of two countries that border the Congo River in central Africa: * Democratic Republic of the Congo, the larger country to the southeast, capital Kinshasa, formerly known as Zaire, sometimes referred to a ...

on 26 March.

Style of play

Diallo plays as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Rouven Schröder Rouven Schröder (born October 18, 1975) is a former German football player. Most recently, he worked as Sporting Director of Schalke 04. Career He made his debut on the professional league level in the Bundesliga for VfL Bochum on April 1, 2001, ...

(sporting director of 1. FSV Mainz) has said that Diallo is "strong in the air and shrewd in the challenge". Michael Zorc, the sporting director of Borussia Dortmund, described Diallo as "a modern, strong central defender who is very intelligent. He can play a wider defensive role too or even be deployed in a defensive midfield role".

Personal life

Diallo's younger brother,

Ibrahima Ibrahima is a male given name, a form of Ibrahim common in parts of Western Africa. Notable people with the name include: * Ibrahima Aya (born 1967), Malian writer * Ibrahima Bakayoko (born 1976), Ivorian footballer * Ibrahima Bangoura (born 19 ...

, is also a footballer for

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Senegal's goal tally first. Score column indicates score after each Diallo goal.''

Honours

Monaco *

: 2016–17 Paris Saint-Germain *

: 2019–20, 2021–22 *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

: 2019–20,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Football in France, French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was est ...

: 2019–20 *

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

runner-up: 2019–20 Senegal *

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Diallo, Abdou 1996 births Living people Sportspeople from Tours, France Citizens of Senegal through descent Senegalese footballers Senegal international footballers French footballers France under-21 international footballers France youth international footballers French sportspeople of Senegalese descent Association football central defenders Ligue 1 players Belgian Pro League players Bundesliga players S.V. Zulte Waregem players AS Monaco FC players 1. FSV Mainz 05 players Borussia Dortmund players Paris Saint-Germain F.C. players RB Leipzig players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players 2022 FIFA World Cup players Africa Cup of Nations-winning players French expatriate footballers French expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Belgium French expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany Black French sportspeople Footballers from Centre-Val de Loire