Why Mikel Arteta must go ALL OUT to sign Ousmane Diomande!

Can I tell you a secret? Can I share a secret with you, Arsenal fans? Arsenal need another centre-back and I can understand why you might be thinking, you know what, this guy's talking nonsense. No, we don't. I mean, forgive me for questioning that. I know on the face of it, we've got Gabriel, we've got Saliba, we've got Tomiasu and Timba who can also play there. Benjamin White as well. And at a stretch, while you don't want to see it, Declan Rice can always play there. But be very honest with yourselves, where our main centre-half pairing is concerned, one injury, one suspension and we are in trouble. There's quite a significant drop-off. We do need a centre-half, in my opinion, among other areas. Step forward, Osman Diamande, currently at Sporting Lisbon after a short time spent in Denmark. You can look on Google and see we've been tracking him for a while, dating back to his youth days. And again, I'm sure we've continued tracking him because we're still linked with him and he seems to be getting better and better. Mr Diamande is a youth product of the Ivorian club, Olympic Sport or Bobo. He moved to the youth academy of the Danish club Michelin in January of 2020. He then joined Portuguese club Marfra on loan in August of 2022 on a season-long loan. He impressed, in my opinion, in the under-19s league in Denmark, where he played for Michelin just aged 17, which led to him obviously going back to Marfra, where he spent time on loan in the second division in the Portuguese league. He joined them very quickly on loan. Such is his progress. Thanks to his impressive performances at such club, his loan was actually cut short and he then signed for Sporting Lisbon. This move not only gave him the chance to play top division football in a top five European league, but also play in Europe in the Europa League. At the time, the then 19-year-old towering centre-back quickly established himself as one of the most promising under-the-radar centre-halves in Europe and a key member of Sporting Lisbon. If we jump back to his move to Sporting Lisbon, he only joined them in January of 2023 for £7.5 million. Now, you can imagine if and when he is sold, they will make a significant profit on him. Now, when he joined Sporting Lisbon, respectfully to his time at Denmark, this was obviously his first big step into elite European football. As we know, Sporting, much like many Portuguese clubs, are very famous for bringing through home Portuguese talent and sourcing players from South America, Africa and whatever continent you want, developing them and then selling them on to shores, as shown really and truly just by looking on Google, as I said earlier, and looking at the big money players that have left the Portuguese league, whether that is Sporting Lisbon, Benfica, Porto, what have you, and set up elsewhere. Going back to his time at Michelin, as I said, he impressed there. He then went on loan. He finds himself at Sporting. Since joining Sporting, despite being 20 years of age, joining them at 18, 19 years of age, depending on when his birthday is, he plays like a veteran. You would not know he's 20 years of age just by watching him. I mean, he looks significantly older, don't kill me, but he does play like a seasoned veteran that some more experienced centre-halves would envy him, people. He did help Sporting Lisbon in his own way, individually and collectively, they won the Portuguese league. I believe just by looking online, they kept 16 clean sheets, in which he can't claim all the credit, but everybody played their part in getting such people. As you can see, we've been linked with him for a while, dating all the way back to his days at Denmark. For me, I like him a lot. I don't know him religiously and things like that, but he is a player I've got a lot of time for. He's very much the modern defender. You know, as you know, the modern defender in today's day and age, it's not good enough to be a good tackler and all of these things. We'll get on to that, and while you still need to be able to do all of that, you have to be good on the football. There's no way around it, especially if you're playing for Sporting Lisbon or some of the teams he's been linked with, people. He's got a good passing range, gallops forward with the ball, glides forward with the ball, has a good temperament of when to keep it simple and when not. He would be great to play in the high line, and I think when you look at his progressive carries and his passes, he embodies the modern ball-playing centre-back. This highlights his ability to play out from the back, help a team drive forward, and play in a team that plays a high line as they look to set up shop in the opposition's half, in which you could see via, you know, taken in April of this year, you can see his successful and unsuccessful passing people in that regard, as well as many other statistics. We can't get away from tackling. As I said, you know, while the game has moved on and we live in a day and age when we talk about goalkeepers, you know, the first thing we say is their passing range and strikers. Can they drop into midfield? The primary jobs are still the same. You need to be able to tackle. You need to be a physical sort of man. You need to be difficult for an opponent to get past you, and I think his tackling is great. At a time, he scored 2.10 tackles per 90, which at the time this year placed him in the top 92% for centre-back's people. His physicality and his athleticism allow him to step out of the defensive line and win draws. He's very aggressive in that regard, which can come at a gift and a curse. Sometimes, you know, he can pick up one yellow card too many, although that's kind of improved and he can miss time challenges. But I personally love aggressive defenders, if I'm really honest with you. You know, he steps out, he wins tackles, he recovers the ball well. He's shown he can play in a back three as well as, you know, a centre half in a traditional duo like with Saliba and Gabriel. He can obviously play at right-back. He'd be a great option to have. He's very good in 1v1 situations and very difficult to get past. He's also good in defending in wide areas, which I feel in the modern day is a very underrated aspect of centre-halves people. Again, in relation to 1v1 defending, there are minor tweaks. Sometimes he can get over-involved at times and pick up a yellow card, although his discipline is improving and we've got to remember he's 20 years of age. Very few players at 20 are the finished article, unless you're Lionel Messi or a player of that kind of ilk, people. I like him. He's quick on the move. He's aggressive when contesting for the ball and he's got a decent bit of pace on him. So, again, he can play in a high line. You know, you see it with Saliba, Gabriel, Benjamin White, whatever have you. You know, you play in a high line. Football is, you know, it's a gift and a curse. We know we play a high line. At times, we're going to be susceptible to counter-attacks. So, you need athletes that are equipped to get back and recover the ball, in which I think he does that, people. For me, he's got all the raw materials in that regards, people. And again, he likes to drive with the ball forward and he's street smart enough, in my opinion, despite his tender years, to know when to do that and when not to. Basically, there's a time and a place. Once again, at 20 years of age, he plays like a seasoned vet and for someone as big as him standing at over six foot, I must admit, it's unusual to see a player so comfortable relatively to a degree with both feet and with a ball at their feet. I'm a bit of a liar and a hypocrite because we have got Saliba, but you get the point, people. I could sell the video for you lot. For me, I wouldn't say he's the complete centre-back yet, but in theory, in terms of his raw potential, his raw components and what he has, I think he's the complete centre-back project. And it's, you know, it doesn't surprise me why he's linked with a lot of top clubs from Arsenal to Liverpool to Manchester City to Manchester United and clubs from other European leagues. Now, again, being interested and actually bidding are two very different things, but he's drawing interest and it's without saying Sporting Lisbon are going to sell him one day for a significant profit. I don't think he'll be there within the next 18 months. I don't even think he'll be at Sporting Bar, you know, the end of the summer transfer window, but who knows, people? You know, he's such a solid defender. He's got a strong build. He's good at defending his box and other areas. He's aggressive. He's got high energy and technical qualities to win the ball back. He's a good passer. He's very progressive in that regard. He's got a lot of potential and he's at the right place in Sporting Lisbon at this moment in time to hone that, people. In terms of intelligence, he's a player capable of benefiting the team and players around him, people. He moves the game forward. He always tries to find the best solution when he has the ball, doesn't have it. You know, again, he shows a willingness to know when he can and can't win the ball. He seems quite humble and I like him a lot. Also, where Arsenal are concerned, you know, he actually made his European debut when we played Sporting Lisbon in Portugal and he obviously started the game at the Emirates when we exited the Europa League. I won't quite say it's an audition because Arsenal were scouting him up until that point, but he gave a great audition apologies to the casual footballing fan where him and his collective teammates pulled off an upset and defeated Arsenal on penalties. In conclusion, do I think we're going to move for Diamond Day? No. You know, despite rumours that his price tag has dropped from what they wanted, which was his €80m release clause to around 50-60, I do think Arsenal want another defender. But when you look at the rumours and again, what Arteta wants to do and what's actually happening are very different things. But it seems like we're more likely to sign a left-back or maybe a centre-half that can play at left-back than we are to sign a centre-half that can play at right-back. But if there was some money spare, I would go for him really. I just think he'd probably cost a bit too much. Where we're working with a quote-unquote limited budget, where you'd imagine where significant investment quote-unquote is concerned, we're probably going to spend a lot of money on a striker, maybe a winger in addition, and probably a central midfielder. If there's any money left, then I'm sure we'll go for that. And again, he's been linked with Man United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, etc. Does he reckon he could dislodge Saliba or Gabriel at centre-half or even Benjamin White at right-back? Or would he get more game time at some of the clubs mentioned? For him, you know, again, there's several big clubs equally as prestigious as Arsenal interested in him. And for me, I think the young Alvorian people who's won the AFCON with his country, Ivory Coast, has a bright future. I think he can build on the raw abilities and capabilities that he's shown and reach a high level as a centre-half and be a consistent, competent and reliable option for years to come with the right coaching, with what he's getting now. And in theory, he would no doubt get at Arsenal under Mikel Arteta. He's making a lot of good progress in his career. And I do think this upward progression is here to stay. And we could see him one day emerge as one of the best outright defenders in Europe. I'm not saying the best. I'm not saying top five, but hold a good regards, people, if I'm completely honest. For me, though, I think he'd be a good option at centre-half. He'd be a good option at right-back. You know, we'd have the best of both worlds if you have People might not agree, but on paper, Kyrgios for his qualities, lul. And Zinchenko for his qualities, double lul. It could be good. I just like him a lot. And I can see why Arsenal and a lot of other big clubs are interested. So if there was a defender that we could go for and we're going to spend the bag, then I think this player could as well, because he's good now. He's got a good foundation. He's 20 years of age. So Mikel Arteta could iron out those rough patches out of him and make him a top, top quality player. While he'd also give us a lot of depth as we look and aspire to accomplish success in terms of winning trophies next season and challenge on all fronts. And at the same time, I wouldn't ever think Saliba and Gabriel are complacent. Definitely not Saliba, because it took him a long time to really emerge in this Arsenal team. To have a centre-back like that waiting in the wings would be great. But I do think we're kind of weak at centre-half. You know, I don't really believe that because, as I said, Kyrgios can play there. Tomi Asu can play there. Timber can play there. I don't want to see it, but if worse comes to worse, Declan Rice can play there. We've got some options. And obviously Saliba has shown for the majority of the last two seasons he can be fit along with Gabriel. But I'd be lying if I said once you look past central midfield, right wing, or let's just say wing, central midfield and up front, if we got all of those areas in addition to a backup goalie to cope with Ramsdale leaving, then I would look at a centre-half or a defender. The best thing I would actually want is another versatile defender of the Timber and Tomi Asu ilk that can fill across the back four. Again, rumours suggest we're going to more likely sign a left-back or a left-sided centre-half that could play left-back. So this video is probably redundant. But for what it's worth, I think he's a good player. I think he's set for a good future. I can see why Arsenal have been linked with him and might be tempted to go for him. But that's just my thoughts. Let me know your thoughts. Don't forget to like, comment and subscribe. We've hit 60,000. Hopefully we can go all the way to 70,000. On that note, as I said, comment, like, subscribe. I'm going to go and make some other videos for you lot. Stay blessed, safe, peace.