Who is Habib Diarra and what will he bring to Sunderland - #onthewhistle - video Dailymotion

Sunderland Echo

On The Whistle returns to take a closer look at Sunderland's club-record signing Habib Diarra and what he'll bring to the team

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00:00National. For me, this guy is the perfect summation, if you like, of what Sunderland

00:05are trying to do in the transfer market this summer because they don't want to fundamentally

00:10change their strategy. They don't want to make bad decisions on players, i.e. spending a lot

00:15of money on players with limited resale value, giving them big contracts that you might struggle

00:19to get rid of and that can cause a huge financial issues in the future, especially if you do suffer

00:24a relegation. So what they want to do is they want to invest in young talent still, but

00:30they want to invest in players with top-level experience because I think there's an understanding

00:34that you cannot just go into the Premier League with players who haven't got experience of

00:38what the intensity, physicality, pace and technical quality of top-tier football in Europe is like.

00:44So Diara is 21, still got a lot of development to do, clearly has significant future resale

00:51value. But he's a player with quite a bit of top-tier experience. Full international, has

00:56over 100 appearances, senior appearances now for Strasbourg, despite his age. And so he's

01:01somebody who I think the club will feel has a decent chance of coming in and hitting the

01:05ground running at Premier League level. Now, in terms of why Sunderland want to sign him

01:10specifically as a player, I think from my research, the one thing that screams out to me is

01:15versatility. So we know that Sunderland, if you like hybrid midfielders, players who can

01:20play in a variety of different roles, whether it's as a 10, whether it's an 8, whether it's

01:24a 6. They like midfielders who are hybrid. They like versatile players generally because

01:31what allows them to do is, as we've seen in recent years, it allows them to run slightly

01:34smaller squads. And one of the reasons why Sunderland think they've got a really unique,

01:38really, really good team spirit is because all the players are highly motivated because

01:42they think they've got a good chance of getting in the team. So versatility is a big

01:46thing. And Diarra, you know, that is the first word that you use about him. So Strasbourg

01:52last season played primarily with a 3-4, let me get my maths right here, a 3-4-2-1 system.

02:00That's right. So basically what you kind of call is a boxing field, kind of two sort of

02:05whole midfielders, if you like, and two more traditional number 10s. Diarra played in basically

02:10all of those positions at some point last season. He played as a 10 off the right, a 10 off the

02:15left. He played as a slightly deeper midfielder on the right, a slightly deeper midfielder

02:18off the left. At times within games, he played in even more attacking roles than that. One

02:24occasion last season, I note that he actually played on the right of a back three. And earlier

02:28in his career, he's also played at right back. So I think that tells you that he's got a

02:32really broad skill set in terms of his attributes. He's a little bit of an all-rounder in terms

02:38of you can do the defensive side of the game, you can contribute in the attacking third.

02:41And he also will bring a lot of versatility at Sunderland. I think as they go into the

02:45new season, I think that's something that they really, really value.

02:48Watching his clips a little bit closer, I think it's obvious to me what he seems to

02:53prefer. And that is, I think if we were to kind of pull it into the, to give you a sort

02:58of visual picture of what it looks like on the pitch, probably the areas that we would

03:02most associate with Chris Rigg played in last season is the sort of number eight on the

03:06right of the midfield three. So one of the things that Diarra is exceptionally good

03:10that is sort of making things happen, combining with the fullback, combining with all the

03:15wingback in Strasbourg's case. You know, his heat map shows he's a player who likes to move

03:21out to the right wing. A lot of his statistics kind of reflect the fact that he's operating

03:26in those sort of spaces. Ran very, very highly in the French division for crosses into the

03:32opposition penalty last season, carrying the ball into the area.

03:38Wisecout ranked him as the eighth best centre midfielder in the French top tier last season

03:43and looking at the reasons why they kind of did that. The areas where he excelled against

03:47other midfielders in the division, assists, key passes completed, accurate forward passes

03:53completed. So you're beginning to see that the strength of his game is sort of in the really

03:58dynamic stuff that he does moving forward. So a few stats that I noted down here from

04:03FB Ref when I was doing my research. So for progressive carries, so a kind of dribbling

04:09if you like, carrying the ball forward with ball at feet. He was in the top 12% in the division.

04:14His expected assists per 90 for Strasbourg last season, so that's basically how many assists

04:19he would be expected to make, judged on the quality of chances he's creating for his teammates.

04:23Again, in the top 12% for that. Progressive passes received, so that's essentially where

04:29he's receiving the ball in advanced area of the pitch. He's in the top 8% of centre midfielders

04:34last season and carries into the opposition penalty box. He was also in the top 8% of centre

04:41midfielders last season.

04:42So clearly, you know, it goes to show you a player who likes to carry the ball forward.

04:46I think he could be perfect for some sort of transitional style. Really going to be a threat

04:52on the counter-attack, likes to drive forward with the ball at feet, make things happen.

04:56And as I said, really, really good at combining with players in those wide areas, which is

04:59why he produced more assists than most centre midfielders normally would. And also why he's

05:04putting a lot of crosses into the box, why he's getting a lot of passes into the box,

05:07because he's operating in those areas. So looking at the way Sunderland sort of operated

05:11last season, I would expect him probably to fit in as one of those two 8s or a slightly more

05:17attacking centre midfielder in a 4-2-3-1. But I think it's clear from my research,

05:22that you can expect him to pop up in a variety of different positions, both from the start

05:25and within games next season. And I think those kind of statistics as well give you an indication

05:30of why Sunderland is so keen to sign him, because he's ranking incredibly favourably on a lot

05:35of statistics against centre midfielders at the level, despite the fact that he's still

05:39so young and has clearly still got so much development to do. I'm thinking some of the sort

05:44of more intangible stuff, if you like, as well. As I said, that experience that he has

05:49of top level football is really important, but he's also the captain in Strasbourg.

05:53So I think that tells you there's a mentality and a level of maturity there as well that

05:57probably belies his age. That's something we associate with a lot of the players in the

06:00Sunderland squad who are young, but have a lot of experience and are very mature as a result

06:04of being through a lot of ups and downs in their careers. So I think he's a really neat fit on

06:08that. And as I say that, that versatility and the age means that that mitigates against

06:13some of the risk of spending such a big transfer fee, because I think even in a scenario where

06:18it doesn't quite come out, come off, there's still a player there who clubs would be interested

06:24in taking on. So I think that gives you a little bit of a feel for why Sunderland is so keen on

06:28Diarra. I have to say it's a sign that I'm really excited about. Hopefully I've given you

06:33a little bit of an insight to him as a player there. I don't quite, from what I've sort

06:38of, the research I've done, I don't quite see him as a direct replacement for Joe Bellingham

06:42because I think probably from, certainly statistically and from what I've watched, Bellingham looks

06:47probably a bit better in the defensive aspect of his game at the moment. Now there's nothing

06:53to say moving forward that if Diarra gets more experience in sort of deeper positions and

06:57with Sunderland's training and what have you, that you won't develop those sides of his

07:00games. But I think where there's a clear similarity with Bellingham, which is how good

07:03he is at driving forward with the ball, turning away from pressure, making things happen on

07:07the counter-attack, I think it's clear that Diarra shares a lot of similarities with Bellingham

07:12on that front. But I think they are slightly different players. I think they're both box-to-box

07:16midfielders, probably at best. But they have a slightly different style from what I've seen

07:21so far. And so I wouldn't be surprised if Sunderland were still potentially considering going

07:27out and getting another midfielder, maybe with a more of a defensive mindset, first and

07:32foremost, going into the new season. Of course, time will tell on that. So let's have a little

07:36about 2.

07:37境.

07:412.

07:423.

Who is Habib Diarra and what will he bring to Sunderland - #onthewhistle

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