Abdou Diallo reveals real reason behind joining Qatar’s Al-Arabi from PSG

Abdou Diallo joined PSG in 2019

Abdou Diallo (27), who joined Qatari team Al-Arabi this summer, gave his reasons for leaving Paris Saint-Germain on the ASAC podcast, including family and financial considerations.

In August, Diallo left PSG for Al-Arabi SC for a rumoured €15 million sum, ending a four-year stay at Parc des Princes. Three players left the Ligue 1 winners to join the Qatari premier division this summer, including the Senegalese international centre-back who had been one of numerous players in the Parisian "loft" at the time. Julian Draxler also moved to Qatar, and Marco Verratti joined Al-Arabi.

Just one month before Abdou, his brother Ibrahima relocated to Qatar, and this had an impact on the former PSG defender's decision.

“It wasn’t at all the project [that I was interested in] at the start of the window. I had made staying in Europe, in the top five leagues, a priority. I received a few interesting approaches. The Qatar offer came at the worst possible time; I didn’t see myself there at all,” he said in an interview transcribed by RMC Sport.

Abdou Diallo continued, “My brother signed there (Qatar) a month earlier. It was a big argument in favour. Last year, I didn’t see him at all. That changes your life. There are more important things than football in life, it has to be said. I am very happy to be closer to my family.”

The former PSG defender then went on to evoke the financial motivations for making such a move. “Lots of players will recognise this, but I played with fear of poverty, of injury, of not making it, of not improving my family’s life, because football was my escape, my social ladder and an opportunity to improve my way of life.

I am the first-born boy, from divorced parents, and in our culture it’s important. I have a place, a rank to hold and responsibilities. For a long time, I have played with this fear. It isn’t the game itself that made me scared, but the risk. I can’t be selfish and think only about my happiness. Life isn’t like that,” he said.