Player Tracker: Sinaly Diomande

Thomas Wardle (@MezzalaFtbl) tracks Centre-back Sinaly Diomande of Olympique Lyonnais (Lyon) over a 4-week period — providing a detailed scout report at the end of the 4-weeks.

Age: 19
Date of Birth: 09/04/2001
Nationality: Ivory Coast
Club: Olympique Lyon
Contract Until: 30/06/2025
Previous Clubs: n/a
Youth Career: Guidars FC, Olympique Lyon
Position: Centre-back
Height: 1.84m
Preferred foot: Right

Who is Sinaly Diomande?

Diomande was part of the academy founded by ex-Angers and Nice player Jean-Marc Guillou in Abidjan before joining Mali side Guidars FC. Diomande then switched continents and joined up with Ligue 1 giants Olympique Lyon in 2019 for an initial fee of £550,000 potentially rising to £2 million.

Despite joining Lyon in the summer of 2019, the Ivorian wasn’t used in the first team until the following season. However, an impressive season for Lyon B in the UEFA Youth League as well as starting in all but one game in the Championnat National 2 saw him earn a pre-season with the first-team.

After only getting as far as the bench during the 2019/20 season — in the Champions League — it looked as though it was going to be a familiar pattern for the youngster this campaign, after not starting any of the first three league games.

However the departure of Joachim Andersen to Fulham in mid-september left a spot up for grabs in both of Lyon’s three and four at the back systems, which the 21-year-old has grabbed with both hands, helping Lyon have the third best defensive record in the league.

Olympique Lyon were obviously keen to keep hold of the youngster, giving him a contract extension until 2025, which highlights what the staff think of Diomande behind the scenes.

Over the next 4-weeks I’ll be watching Sinaly Diomande and updating this piece weekly to provide a detailed scout report.