I watched £22m Leeds United transfer target and spotted what he has that Whites are missing

Leeds United have submitted a bid worth £22 million for the services of Senegalese international midfielder Habib Diarra - we watched him to see if he's worth it.

The Whites are keen to add RC Strasbourg Alsace midfielder Diarra to Daniel Farke's squad ahead of the 2025/26 Premier League season with the expectation the French club are willing to sell and the player open to the idea of England's top flight.

As reported by the YEP, United are also in talks over a move for Udinese's giant centre-half Jaka Bijol, who could be available for a similar fee this summer, although the two clubs remain some way apart in negotiations.

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Leeds' last big-money additions - transfers costing in excess of £20 million - came ahead of and during the 2022/23 season in which United were last in the Premier League. Georginio Rutter, Brenden Aaronson and Luis Sinisterra all arrived for similar fees to what has been proposed for Diarra with the three players experiencing varying success at Elland Road.

The Whites' return to the top flight after two years in the Championship has greatly improved Leeds' spending power in the transfer market, although, there is no bottomless pit of cash for the club to spend without consequence, therefore moves of such value must be thought out very carefully.

A £22 million investment into a 21-year-old with no prior experience of the Premier League has the potential to look, on paper at least, a gamble but clearly the recruitment structure at Leeds are content with the player's faculties and believe Diarra has the ability to not only compete, but enhance Farke's squad, in the top flight.

Habib Diarra style of play

The Senegal international is a box-to-box midfielder whose athleticism has stood out in France's top tier Ligue 1 since breaking through at Strasbourg. Already vastly experienced for his age, Diarra skippered the border club last season under the stewardship of English coach Liam Rosenior.

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Whilst Leeds are known to be recruiting this summer with one eye firmly on the data side of things, Diarra is not a player whose numbers stand out, per se. He isn't an especially creative midfielder, nor is he particularly combative and games don't tend to flow through him - that is not the type of midfielder he is. He is, however, a low-touch, high-impact midfield presence.

That is to say, what he does do, he executes intensely, which is what's likely inspired Leeds to make him a primary target at this stage of the window.

Diarra's intensity is perhaps his crowning attribute, which is a necessary baseline when it comes to signing players for the Premier League from abroad. England's top flight is widely regarded as the best league in the world, but it is also the most intense. Players have less time on the ball, spend more time sprinting and contest a higher proportion of high-intensity duels. From a physical standpoint, the Premier League is the apex and in recent seasons that has only been on the up-and-up.

So, it makes sense that when supplementing Farke's squad, the first checkbox which needs ticked is: 'Can this player handle the Premier League?'

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Diarra is a hard-running transitional midfielder, like Newcastle United's Joelinton for example, but doesn't dominate duels in the way the Brazilian does. Instead, the Senegalese international picks his moments, reading opposition build-up before 'jumping' to intercept. In a way, he utilises his own individual pressing triggers to decide when to intervene, rather than those he's instructed to follow, and for this reason appears better-suited to a man-oriented pressing structure.

Whilst not particularly creative, Diarra's profile is one which the Leeds squad does not currently have in central midfield. For Strasbourg, the 21-year-old contributes to several phases of play, albeit with varying degrees of success, from early stage build-up to executing the final action in the final third. Ethan Ampadu, Ilia Gruev and Ao Tanaka have proven themselves to be effective in their respective roles but none boast the athleticism Diarra possesses.

Habib Diarra has thrived under the tutelage of former Hull City boss Liam Rosenior at Strasbourg.placeholder image
Habib Diarra has thrived under the tutelage of former Hull City boss Liam Rosenior at Strasbourg. | SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP via Getty Images

The Strasbourg man is more than happy to occupy defenders with forward runs which will not be found by his teammates, to facilitate the creation of space for more attack-minded, potent players. There is also scope for the midfielder to play slightly further forward, crashing the box in a way Leeds' existing central midfield options do not. It must be said, though, that Diarra's creative numbers in France probably indicate he isn't going to be Leeds' new No. 10 and is more suited to a role in Farke's midfield double pivot.

There are similarities between Diarra and Liverpool's title-winning midfielder Ryan Gravenberch, specifically in the way he levers his limbs to good effect when duelling with opponents. This aspect of his game is not quite as honed as the Anfield man, who tends to use his long arms and legs to ride challenges and spin away with possession, but it is useful when Diarra 'jumps' and steals the ball from an opposition player. It's also a handy trait when running with the ball, swatting away attempts to dispossess him and being able to either draw fouls from such scenarios or progress play up the pitch.

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Diarra offers versatility, although if Leeds are successful with a bid, do not expect him to start too often in wider areas, even though he has the capacity to drift into and cover lateral spaces on the pitch. Under Patrick Vieira at Strasbourg, Rosenior's predecessor, Diarra was utilised across the midfield in a team which did not control games or dominate possession, therefore the Senegalese has use in a team who spend plenty of time out of possession, which Leeds will find is the case more often in the top flight.

Having previously mentioned Diarra's tendency to 'jump' on opponents with the ball, a scouting profile of the player highlighted a potential tactical advantage of his awareness that could potentially be of greater use to Leeds in the Premier League. Inverted full-backs - players who begin at left-back and right-back but move infield to occupy central midfield spaces, creating 3-v-2 scenarios and numerical superiority in an area of the pitch - are more common in the Premier League. Diarra's ability to snuff out opposition build-up by 'jumping' on it at source has the potential to nullify, or at least diminish, the effectiveness of some teams' inverted full-backs.

As recently as January, Brighton and Hove Albion were reported to have lodged a £20 million bid with Strasbourg, which has the potential to be good and bad news for Leeds. It demonstrates that a team like the Seagulls, who recruit smartly and have developed a reputation for doing so, appear to value the player the same way Leeds do. On the other hand, it means United are not likely to be the only Premier League club in for the Senegal international this summer and if the player bides his time, may have more appealing clubs to join than a newly-promoted side.

Strasbourg's Habib Diarra has been linked with Leeds United.placeholder image
Strasbourg's Habib Diarra has been linked with Leeds United. | FREDERICK FLORIN/AFP via Getty Images

Diarra seems ambitious, too, based on reports from France at the beginning of 2023/24 which saw him dropped to the reserves for friendly matches as he attempted to push through a move to then-Champions League club RC Lens. Some may interpret this negatively but it shows the player would be more than likely willing to take a chance in the Premier League, as opposed to remaining at Strasbourg where admittedly more talented players are also tipped to leave this summer.

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In summary, it cannot be a coincidence a highly-rated coach like Rosenior named Diarra his captain upon arriving at Stade de la Meinau, nor is it likely to be pure chance that recruitment teams such as Leeds' and Brighton's rate the Senegal man at around the £20 million mark. Those in football tend to have a better grasp on the faculties of players, even when supporters and other spectators undervalue them.

At this early stage of the window it appears more likely Leeds will land Slovenian centre-back Bijol ahead of Diarra, but the profile of the two confirmed targets is encouraging from a squad-building perspective and shows United are being proactive in recruitment.

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