Abdou Diallo: "When you go through a lot of transfers, you gain experience"
Abdou Diallo looks back on his transfer window. The Senegal international defender reveals why he signed in Qatar.
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The Gulf is a fashionable destination, and Abdou Diallo has set up home there this summer. Not in Saudi Arabia, like the majority of moves to that part of the world, but in Qatar. The Senegal international (23 caps) has signed a four-year contract with Al Arabi. A default choice? No, says the former PSG man. According to him, it was a well-considered decision.
"This is my seventh club. It's a period that can be stressful but also decisive in my career, so you can't get it wrong. When you go through a lot of transfers, you gain experience and you see things a bit differently. (…) Qatar? It wasn't my plan at the start of the window. My priority was to carry on in Europe, in the top five leagues, even though I think I've done my time in Germany. (…) I felt I wanted to see something different. France? I couldn't see myself going anywhere other than Paris. I did Monaco (from 2011 to 2017, editor's note), which is close to my heart, and PSG, which is also close to my heart. It made sense to me to limit myself in France to those two clubs. I did have some interesting approaches, but it just didn't feel right", says Abdou Diallo in an interview given to the YouTube channel ASAC.
Saudi Arabia came calling
However, Abdou Diallo admits he had other offers. Indeed, the African champion could have signed in Saudi Arabia, even if he admits he did not expect to end up in Qatar.
"With age and experience, you understand that you have to listen to yourself. You only have one career, and it's yours. To choose is to give something up, so you have to be ready to do that. I didn't force myself into it. After that, there was Saudi Arabia, which was a major player in the window. Naturally, I was paying attention and I had some serious talks with one Saudi club in particular, which came to nothing. I was very tough in negotiations, I won't hide that. Qatar came completely out of the blue, I wasn't picturing myself there at all, because it wasn't as active as Europe or Saudi Arabia. But nothing happens by chance in life, I managed to get everything I was hoping for and to have that feeling of: 'Yeah, that's where I'm meant to be.' My little brother (Ibrahima Diallo, ex-Southampton) had signed there a month earlier, so that's a big extra argument ", Abdou Diallo confides.