Just a year after signing for Aston Villa, Moussa Diaby will shortly be confirmed as having made a move to the Saudi Pro League.
A switch to Al Ittihad is reportedly almost done and dusted and, bizarre as it seems, brings into sharp focus the threat that remains for Premier League clubs from a league that’s only rated as the 68th best in the world (TeamForm).
The same rating places the Premier League at the very top, so the only reason that players can be tempted to move to Saudi remains financial.
No amount of banging the drum by Cristiano Ronaldo and others is going to change that.
Diaby has made his bed and will shortly have to lie in it, but Villa, to their credit, have stuck to their guns in terms of a transfer fee.
As Football Insider note, more than £50m is required for Diaby to move on, though there’s also a big reason why the Villains value their player as such, given they paid £43m to Bayer Leverkusen for his services.
The same outlet suggest that, in fact, Villa still owe the Bundesliga champions around half of that fee, and will therefore have to square off that debt once the player is sold.
Diaby’s apparent insistence at leaving the club, particularly given that Villa will be involved in their first Champions League campaign in four decades, will almost certainly have left a sour taste.
However, in director of football operations, Monchi, Villa have one of the shrewdest operators in the transfer market.
It would surprise no one if he’s lined up as big a name as Diaby once the Frenchman bids goodbye to the club for the final time.
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