Indian Football Transfers: Delhi Dynamos sign former Barcelona B player Diawandou Diagne

Indian Super League club Delhi Dynamos have signed Diawandou Diagne for the upcoming season. The Senegalese midfielder will be joining from Belgian club KAS Eupen.

Diagne joined Qatar’s famous Aspire Academy when he was only 13. He was one of the three players chosen from Senegal. He was also among the final 24 players that were selected after trials.

After graduating from Aspire Academy, Diagne moved to Belgium in 2012 to join second division side Eupen. He played his first match as a professional footballer on August 23 against Dessel Sport. In his debut season, he made 32 appearance for his club, combining a total of 2790 minutes.

In 2014, he scored his first goal for the club against Sint-Truidense that earned his team a much needed draw.

His performance had already drawn attention from various clubs across Europe and Diagne finally joined Barcelona B in the same year on a three-year deal. He made his first appearance for the club in August, in a 0-2 loss against Osasuna CA. He went to make 28 appearances in the Segunda Division.

Diagne was even called up in the main squad of Barcelona before their match against Huesca but he remained as unused substitute by the then coach Luis Enrique.

However, after spending three years at Barcelona B, Diagne went back to his old club Eupena in Belgium. Speaking on his decision to leave Barca B, Diagne once said last month, “At the end of the 2014-2015 season, Barça's B team came down in the 3rd division and I did not want to play at this level.”

Diagne also said, he has not yet half lowered his ambitions to discover a major league, the Belgian championship being for him the best place to progress.

Diagne was even running for a place in Senegal’s 23-man squad for the African Cup of Nations, scheduled to happen in Egypt. But in the last moment, his name was not considered by coach Aliou Cisse.

Even after finishing well below the play-off berth, Dynamos have retained their manager Josep Gombau for next season. It needs to be seen what Diagne offers for the team next season.