Assane Diao: Scouting Report by Mateusz Belza
Name: Assane Diao
Age: 18 years old (2005-09-07)
Height: 1,85 cm
Main Position: Right Winger
Other Position: Left Winger
Club: Real Betis
Nationality: Spain and Senegal
Preferred foot: Right
Market Value: £ 8.00m
Player comparisons: Donyell Malen, Wilfried Zaha
Key Strengths:
Pace
Athleticism
Weak foot
Flair
Timing in his runs
Improvements:
Crossing
Heading
Strength
Decision Making
Background:
Assane Diao was born in Ndangane in Senegal but moved to Spain when he was three years old. He started his youth career in Spain for clubs like CD Badajoz, CP Flecha Negra and Balón de Cádiz CF before moving to Real Betis youth academy in 2021.
Career Summary:
Assane Diao has played numerous games for Real Betis B in the Segunda Federatión. On September 21, 2023, he made his professional debut with Real Betis, entering as a substitute against Rangers FC in the UEFA Europa League. Just two days later, he made his La Liga debut against Granada, scoring his first senior professional goal.
On the national team level, Assane Diao participated in the U19 European Championship 2023 with Spain, where they reached the semi-finals. Diao played in all four games, contributing significantly. He has recently made his debut for the U21 national team of Spain in the Euro U21 qualification games.
Play style:
Assane Diao is the explosive and fast winger that likes to outrun his opponents. He possesses incredible acceleration and quickly gets up to pace. He often plays on the right wing and likes to cut inside to either challenge his opponent in a 1v1 situation or take a shot. Despite his preferred foot being the right one, it doesn’t stop Diao from using his left foot when cutting inside to relieve a shot on goal, as he demonstrated beautifully with his debut goal in La Liga. During the course of the game Diao can be found in central attacking areas and sometimes on the left hand side also, which shows a good versatility. However, his decision making sometimes takes a little bit too long, which ends up in losing the possession of the ball.
Play style (Offensively):
As mentioned earlier, Diao primarily functions as a right winger, initiating plays by utilizing his great speed and dribbling skills to generate opportunities for his team.
Off the ball, he shows great intelligence in finding open spaces to run into. Diao often starts wide on his wing to provide width (creating lateral space) and drops deep when his team is in possession. This strategic move aims to draw his opponents out of position, creating space for both himself and his teammates. He frequently moves diagonally towards the center and around his opponents on the wing, depending on where he can find open spaces to use his pace and create goal-scoring opportunities for his team.
Here, Diao reads the game well by spotting the open space on his right wing and decides to make a diagonal run towards that space, catching the defense off guard with his rapid pace.
Here, Diao drops down the pitch to make his opponent come closer to him so he can ran into the space created behind the opponent
On the ball, Diao demonstrates a great first touch with both feet, a valuable trait for a fast winger. This skill is particularly important because, at times, the long balls he receives don’t come in front of him but rather at him. In these situations, after controlling the ball, Diao often attempts to dribble past his opponent. He easily bypasses the initial defender on most occasions or gets fouled, winning a free kick. However, there are instances where he tends to over-dribble, resulting in dispossession. Diao prefers short passing over crossing, possibly because he aims to execute a one-two with his teammate, maintaining his pace and momentum to stay actively involved in the attack in the final third.
Diao cuts inside in a smart position to get rid of three defenders and drives towards the center and makes a shot with his left foot.
Play style (Defensively):
Defensively, Diao primarily contributes through pressing, leveraging his explosive speed to swiftly close down his opponents and force them to make back passes and rush decisions. Additionally, he actively strives to intercept passing lanes. In transition, Diao is fast to drop back into a defensive role to try to win the ball back.
Despite losing the ball, Diao demonstrates great determination to win it back through pressing. He successfully regains possession and then passes the ball to (player marked with blue) who is in a “golden zone”.
Diao quickly presses the ball holder before they gain control, aiming to intercept the two passing lanes marked with blue. The only option left for the ball holder is to pass the ball backward.
Technical Abilities (0-10):
Attacking Ability: [8]
Dribbling 1v1: [7]
Shooting: [7]
Left Footed Passing: [7]
Right Footed Passing:[8]
Short Passing: [8]
Long Passing: [5]
Crossing: [4]
Running with the ball: [7]
Running without the ball: [9]
Ball Control: [7]
Heading: [5]
Weak foot: [9]
First Touch: [8]
Physical Abilities (0-10):
Acceleration: [10]
Speed: [10]
Mobility: [8]
Strength: [5]
Work Rate: [7]
Agility: [9]
Endurance: [7]
Tactical Abilities (0-10):
Positioning: [7]
Reading the Game: [7]
Vision: [7]
Decision Making: [5]
Awareness: [6]
Mentality & Character abilities (0-10):
Team Player: [9]
Effort to win the ball back: [8]
Leadership: [6]
Talkative: [6]
Competitive: [8]
Discipline: [7]
Concentration: [7]
Will to win: [8]
Showing initiative: [8]
Potential:
Although Assane Diao is still in the early stages of his development, he exhibits great potential to become a top-class football player. This season, he has already been in the starting lineup for 7 games in La Liga and 1 game in the Europa League, showcasing that Real Betis provides an ideal environment for him to grow into a highly skilled right winger at the highest level. While his decision-making, strength, crossing, and heading require refinement, I believe these areas will be addressed by Manuel Pellegrini and his staff as the season progresses with Diao. Despite these aspects for improvement, his athleticism, explosiveness, pace, and goal-scoring ability with both feet make him a very promising prospect to follow. If he continues to consistently get playtime, I am confident that he will develop even further and become a sought-after talent for many top teams in the future.