Ousmane Diomande: Profile, playing style, scouting report

Sporting CP have a new defender in the making

At just 19 years of age, Ousmane Diomande is quickly establishing himself as one of the most promising centre-backs in Europe. Ousmane Diomande impressed in the U19 League in Denmark when he played for FC Midtjylland when he was just 17, which led to Portuguese second-tier club CD Mafra signing him on loan for the start of the 2022-23 season. He made few appearances in all competitions, which earned him a move to the Liga Portugal and Sporting CP. This move not only gave him the chance to play top-division football but also European football in the Europa League.

Past Experience

Ousmane Diomande is a youth product of the Ivorian club Olympic Sport Abobo, having joined at the age of 10. He moved to the youth academy of the Danish club Midtjylland in January 2020. He joined the Portuguese club Mafra on loan on August 5, 2022, on a season-long loan. The next day, he made his professional debut with Mafra in a 3-1 Liga Portugal 2 loss to Oliveirense on August 6, 2022. He was signed by Sporting CP for €7.5 million, making him the second-most expensive signing of the winter transfer window in Portugal.

Stats of Ousmane Diomande

He played fifteen matches in the U-19 Boys League, where he scored two goals. Last season, he made 13 appearances in Liga Portugal and scored one goal. He also played four matches in the UEFA Europa League. He has an accuracy rate in the opposition half of 86% on average and an overall accuracy rate of 91% per game.

Type of Player

Ousmane Diomande has that potential. He is a player who can connect with teammates in different areas through different types of passing. He often tries to break lines of pressure, as he is quick to spot players between the lines or with enough space to turn and make attacks more dynamic, but his speciality is long passes. Diomande demonstrates excellent balance along with his speed and power, as he can quickly change speed and decelerate to initiate the jockey position, where he is then in control.

Ousmane Diomande is a player with good defensive concepts in 1v1 duels. He varies his positions according to the characteristics of the ball holder and the area of the pitch in which he is, inviting the opponent to move towards the less comfortable spaces for him. He looks very confident coming out of the zone and taking on 1v1 duels.

He is also a player with the gestural speed to recover if he is beaten and has great reach in his lower body to steal. Defending in the box is another situation where the current Sporting CP player shows interesting concepts to intercept crosses. He maintains a high level of concentration to scan his surroundings and also knows how to use his arms to always keep his opponent referenced. He uses his upper body in a very intelligent way to protect the ball from his opponents or to boost himself away from them to get to the ball first. His size and strength make him very difficult to displace.

Similar type of player

Tottenham Hotspur’s Cristian Romero shares a lot of similarities with Ousmane Diomande. This is due to them both being comfortable when receiving the ball and being quick enough to cover ground when needed; however, they can both be a bit rash and commit fouls that are not necessary, which can lead to mistakes and dangerous situations.

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