Abdoulaye DIALLO

After leaving his pre-training period of 3 years at the French Football Centre (INF Clairefontaine), Abdoulaye Diallo joined Stade Rennais’ Academy setup in 2007. He was regularly promoted to play in higher age groups, and this tall goalkeeper took advantage of the combined absences of Douchez, Luzi and N’Diaye to make his professional debut at Lyon in a 1-1 draw, just a week after his first appearance on the team-sheet in the First Team squad. His remarkable and noted performance in front of Canal+’s cameras on 29th November 2009 transformed his status from number 5 to number 2 in the goalkeeping hierarchy. Despite winning the U19 European Championships in 2010, he put up with playing in the Reserves after the arrival of Carrasso, and then was back on the bench with the First Team in 2011 as understudy to Costil, who had arrived from Sedan. In May 2013, he extended his contract, and was loaned to Le Havre in January 2014 to get valuable game-time. After another loan spell at Le Havre in the 2014/2015 season, the Senegalese international provided excellent cover for the injured Costil in the Autumn of 2015, before extending his contract for another three seasons on 20th December. Loaned to Rizespor in Turkey in 2016/2017, he returned as Number 1 in the summer of 2017. After a season which was difficult for the team, rather than just for him personally, the club recruited Koubek at the end of the transfer window. Diallo lost his place. In December 2018, Julien Stéphan decided to give him another run as first-choice keeper, but after several excellent displays, he was stopped in his tracks by an injury, and Koubek took back the spot until the end of the season. Out of contract in May 2019, he moved to Turkish side Gençlerbiligi on 28th June.