Mouctar Diakhaby (born 19 December 1996) 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 ...

or defensive midfielder for

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

club

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

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

Early life

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

Club career

Lyon

Diakhaby made his first team debut for

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

on 10 September 2016 in a

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 ...

match against

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

, playing the whole match in a 3–1 home loss. 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 Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

. 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 The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

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 ...

goal. He also scored a goal in each of two legs of the 2016–17 Europa League round of 16 tie against

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

Valencia

On 28 June 2018, Diakhaby signed a five-year deal with Spanish side

. On 3 March 2024, he sustained a serious injury, diagnosed as a dislocated knee, following a collision with

Aurélien Tchouaméni Aurélien Djani Tchouaméni (born 27 January 2000) is a French professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for La Liga club Real Madrid and the France national team. Early life Tchouaméni was born in Rouen, Seine-Maritime, bu ...

during a match 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 ...

International career

Diakhaby was born in France, but is Guinean by descent. 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 Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

. On 23 December 2023, he was selected from the list of 25 Guinean players selected by

Kaba Diawara Kaba Diawara (born 16 December 1975) is a football manager and former player who played as a striker. He has been head coach of the Guinea national football team since October 2021. Diawara played for French teams Sporting Toulon, Bordeaux, Renn ...

to compete in the

2023 Africa Cup of Nations The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (also referred to as AFCON 2023 or CAN 2023) is scheduled to be the 34th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's association football, football championship of Africa organized by the ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Guinea's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Diakhaby goal.''

Honours

Valencia *

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...

: 2018–19

References

External links

Profile
at the Valencia CF website * * 1996 births Living people Footballers from Centre-Val de Loire Sportspeople from Loir-et-Cher People from Vendôme French sportspeople of Guinean descent Guinean people of French descent French men's footballers Guinean men's footballers Black French sportspeople Men's association football central defenders Ligue 1 players Olympique Lyonnais players La Liga players Valencia CF players Guinean expatriate men's footballers Guinean expatriate sportspeople in France Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain France men's youth international footballers France men's under-21 international footballers 2023 Africa Cup of Nations players {{France-footy-forward-1990s-stub