New Aston Villa star on tearing up the Premier League after learning from Mbappe

30 September 2023 , 05:00

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Aston Villa new boy Moussa Diaby has learnt from the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Neymar (Image: George Wood/Getty)

The old saying goes that if you want to be the best, learn from the best.

Watching Kylian Mbappe, Neymar, Edinson Cavani and Angel di Maria up close and personal certainly worked wonders for Aston Villa’s club record signing Moussa Diaby.

The speedster, signed from Bayer Leverkusen for £51.9m during the summer, could hardly fail with such a glittering array of talent in front of him. The forward, who hails from the 19th arrondissement north-east of the French capital, was picked up by Paris St Germain’s academy.

He said: “I was 13 or 14 when I signed for the academy and there were a lot of big players. Mbappe, Neymar, di Maria, Cavani…there was a long list of them. So I watched them. I watched them every day - to learn. I saw that they had a big passion. I learnt how they moved and saw how they approached every game they played in.

“It didn’t come quickly. You have to watch, watch and watch some more if you want to be at the same level. Then, when you are on the pitch yourself, you have to take your time. Not everyone has the same qualities.‌

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“Those players don’t do the same things. Mbappe is a top player but he’s not the same as di Maria or Cavani. What I learnt is their different strengths. Cavani’s movement was top quality. He always looked for the space. Di Maria had great technique. He was the one I watched more than anyone because we played in the same position.

“Most of all I learnt that when you have your chance, you have to be at your best to take it. At PSG, when you don’t play, it’s not because you don’t have quality. It’s because other players are at the top and they have a lot of experience.”

It was, of course, in Paris that Diaby came to the attention of Unai Emery, the man who would sign him for Villa. Before that, though, he benefited from the advice given to another boss well-known to Premier League observers, former Chelsea chief Thomas Tuchel.

New Aston Villa star on tearing up the Premier League after learning from Mbappe

Diaby has made a storming start to life at Villa Park (Laurence Griffiths/Getty)

“He was honest with me,” said Diaby, “He was my coach and he said: ‘Look, Moussa, if you want to play for the first team you have to fight - and you have to fight every single day.’

“That was all I could think about. What the coach had said to me. He gave me a lot of chances to play at Paris. But I needed to play in a team where I could progress.

“At Leverkusen, I could do that. When I told him I wanted to go to Germany to play more, he said: ‘Go, it’s a good club. Leverkusen is the club for you, for sure, they will bring you on.’ They give more chances to young players. I was there for four years and they gave me a platform.”

Tuchel called it correctly. Diaby was first-choice for four years where he picked up a reputation because of his pace. Statistics gleaned from the Bundesliga show that only Ashraf Hakimi - who was at Borussia Dortmund at the time - was quicker than Diaby.

Ask the 24-year-old and it’s contested - ‘I did play against him - but we were on different sides of the pitch, so I can’t work out who is faster’ - before Emery came calling.

Diaby training with Mbappe for the France national team (AFP via Getty Images)

“I knew the coach, Unai, because he was my coach when I was younger,” he said, “I went over to train with the first team at Paris when some players were on duty with their international teams.

“So, he knew me. Everybody knows he’s a good coach. He’s won a lot of trophies. He has a good mentality. He wants to win every game. He’s also strict with a lot of small things. I think that’s important to him.