Davide Djily Diaw (born 6 January 1992) is an Italian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for club

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

on loan from

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

Early life

Diaw was born in

Cividale del Friuli Cividale del Friuli ( fur, Cividât (locally ); german: Östrich; sl, Čedad) is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Udine, part of the North-Italian Friuli Venezia Giulia ''regione''. The town lies above sea-level in the foothills of the e ...

, Italy, to an Italian mother and a Senegalese father. Prior to becoming a professional footballer, he worked as a warehouse worker.

Club career

Early career

A youth player for Donatello Calcio and Ancona Udine, in 2010 Diaw moved to

Serie D The Serie D () is the top level of semi-professional football in the country. The fourth tier of the Italian league system, the competition sits beneath the third professional league, Serie C. It is administered by the Lega Nazionale Dilettant ...

side Sanvitese. After two seasons he moved to

Tamai The Battle of Tamai (or Tamanieh) took place on 13 March 1884 between a British force under Sir Gerald Graham and a Mahdist Sudanese army led by Osman Digna. Despite his earlier victory at El Teb, Graham realised that Osman Digna's force was fa ...

where, due to a knee injury, he had limited gametime. In 2013 he moved to Virtus Corno in the

Eccellenza The Eccellenza (, "excellence") is the fifth level (since 2014–15) of Italian football. It is a regional league, composed of 28 divisions divided geographically. All 20 regions are represented by at least one division except for Piedmont and Ao ...

, scoring 34 league goals in 55 games in two seasons, and helping his side win the

Coppa Italia Dilettanti The Coppa Italia Dilettanti (Italian language, Italian for: Italian Amateurs Cup) is an annual knock-out competition for teams from the fifth and sixth levels of Football in Italy, Italian football: the Eccellenza and the Promozione. All ties exce ...

. Diaw returned to Tamai on 15 July 2015.

Virtus Entella

On 1 July 2016, Diaw moved to

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

side

Virtus Entella Virtus Entella, commonly referred to as Entella, is an Italian professional football club based in Chiavari, Liguria. Founded in 1914, the club currently competes in the . History 1914: Foundation The club was founded in 1914 as Foot-Ball Club ...

, on a three-year contract. He made his Serie B debut on 9 October, in a 1–1 draw against

; Diaw's first goal came on 30 December, in a 2–1 away defeat to

Cittadella Cittadella ( vec, Sitadeła) is a medieval walled city in the province of Padua, northern Italy, founded in the 13th century as a military outpost of Padua. The surrounding wall has been restored and is in circumference with a diameter of around ...

. On 27 January 2018, he sustained an

ACL injury An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during inju ...

, prematurely ending his season.

Cittadella

On 15 January 2019, after having played the first half of the

2018–19 Serie C The 2018–19 Serie C was the fifth season of the unified Serie C division, the third tier of the Italian football league system. Teams The league originally featured 60 teams. However, it saw the bankruptcy and subsequent withdrawal of Andria, ...

with Virtus Entella, Diaw moved to Serie B club Cittadella on a three-year contract. He scored his first goal for the club on 4 May, in a 3–0 home win over

Hellas Verona Hellas Verona Football Club, commonly referred to as Hellas Verona or simply Verona, is a professional Italian football club based in Verona, Italy, that currently plays in Serie A. The team won the Serie A Championship in 1984–85. His ...

. Diaw scored once again on 11 May, in the last game of the

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...

against

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

. On 25 May he scored and made an assist in the promotion play-off semi-final game against

Benevento Benevento (, , ; la, Beneventum) is a city and ''comune'' of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the ...

. In the first leg of the play-off final, he scored his first career brace against Hellas Verona, helping his side win 2–0. Despite the two-goal advantage, Cittadella lost the second leg 3–0 and remained in the Serie B. On 7 December Diaw scored his second brace, in a 4–3 league win over

Salernitana Unione Sportiva Salernitana 1919, commonly referred to as Salernitana, is an Italian football club based in Salerno, Campania. The original club was founded in 1919 and has been reconstituted three times in the course of its history, most recentl ...

. He finished the

2019–20 Serie B The 2019–20 Serie B (known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons) was the 88th season since its establishment in 1929. The 20-team format returned after 16 years, the last time being in the 2002–03 season. The season was scheduled to run from ...

season with 15 goals between the regular season and the play-offs. In a year and a half, Diaw scored 22 goals in 56 games for Cittadella.

Pordenone

On 11 September 2020, Diaw moved to Serie B side

Pordenone Pordenone (; Venetian and fur, Pordenon) is the main ''comune'' of Pordenone province of northeast Italy in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region. The name comes from Latin ''Portus Naonis'', meaning 'port on the Noncello (Latin ''Naon'') River'. ...

for €2.5 million, signing a four-year contract. He scored his first goal on 3 October in a home draw against

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a th ...

. Two weeks later, he scored a brace in a 3–3 draw to

SPAL Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor, commonly known as S.P.A.L. (), is a professional football club based in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The team plays in Serie B, the second tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in 1907, since ...

. In the first half of the

2020–21 Serie B The 2020–21 Serie B (known as the Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons) was the 89th season of the Serie B since its establishment in 1929. It started on 25 September 2020 and ended on 10 May 2021. On 5 November 2020, Serie B announced it would ...

, Diaw scored 10 goals in 18 games, and was the joint-top goalscorer to date.

Monza

On 29 January 2021, Diaw joined

in the Serie B on a three-and-a-half-year contract. He made his debut on 31 January, as a substitute against SPAL in a 1–1 league draw. Diaw's first goal for Monza came on 7 May, helping his team win 3–0 in a league game against

Cosenza Cosenza (; local dialect: ''Cusenza'', ) is a city in Calabria, Italy. The city centre has a population of approximately 70,000; the urban area counts more than 200,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Province of Cosenza, which has a populati ...

Loans to Vicenza, Modena and Bari

On 8 July 2021, Diaw was sent on a one-year loan to fellow-Serie B side

. On 19 July 2022, he joined newly-promoted Serie B side

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

on a one-year loan. On 15 August 2023, Diaw moved to

on a season-long loan, with Bari holding an obligation to make the transfer permanent in case of promotion to

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

Style of play

Diaw is a quick

centre forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

known for his high workrate, his first touch, and his movements. Despite being tall, Diaw is a mobile player.

Personal life

Diaw and his partner, Vanessa Mattiussi, have a daughter named Celeste.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Virtus Corno *

Friuli-Venezia Giulia: 2014–15

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Diaw, Davide 1992 births Living people People from Cividale del Friuli Footballers from Friuli Venezia Giulia Italian people of Senegalese descent Italian men's footballers Men's association football forwards ASD Polisportiva Tamai players Virtus Entella players AS Cittadella players Pordenone Calcio players AC Monza players LR Vicenza players Modena FC 2018 players SSC Bari players Serie B players Serie C players Serie D players