In the summer of 2025, it’s very well known that AFC Bournemouth lost the core of their back four, including centre back partnership Dean Huijsen and Illia Zabarnyi, who joined giants Real Madrid and PSG respectively for a combined fee of over £100M.

Naturally, that left a major gap to fill in, although the proven Marcos Senesi remaining at the club at at least softened the blow. Replacing the duo was never going to be easy, especially with clubs knowing how desperate the need for AFCB was, but a number of names were linked, including Mario Gila, Koni De Winter and Jhon Lucumi (who looks all set to be the new Demarai Gray, in that he is linked to AFCB every single window).

But Tiago Pinto and Simon Francis’ main attention seemed in France, where despite reported competition from Sunderland, The Cherries eventually managed to agree a deal with Lille that could potentially rise to £34M. The chase for Diakite was a long yet successful one, however the Frenchman was announced just two days before the season started.

With limited resources available to Andoni Iraola, Diakite was thrown into the deep-end, making his Premier League debut at Anfield. It was an assured performance, in fact looking more comfortable than his partner Senesi, who put in what would go down as his worst performance of the campaign.

The early signs of the now 25 year old were very encouraging – it was evident that he was not as good on the ball as his predecessors, but he showed good defensive instincts and contributed to three clean sheets in his first four matches (having missed the 2-1 win over Brighton due to injury).

But that is as good as it got, unfortunately. In the next 10 games that Diakite played, only one clean sheet was kept – against a poor Chelsea side in a 0-0 draw. It is somewhat ironic, then, that in the return fixture between the two sides, later that month, that he was taken out of the team, replaced by James Hill.

This followed an extremely tough run of form for Bournemouth, with a very fragile defence conceding goals for fun. Iraola’s side were conceding goals for fun, especially away from home (17 in five games before he was dropped), making it ultimately extremely difficult to pick up points amidst an (at the time of being dropped) nine game winless run.

Diakite’s struggles were at their most evident in his final league start of the season, a harrowing 4-1 defeat at Brentford just after Christmas (not very festive).

It was a torrid afternoon for Diakite, who was, in no uncertain terms, bullied by Kevin Schade and Igor Thiago. For the first goal, he was left scrambling on the floor after a shoulder-to-shoulder with Schade, before inexplicably (and comically, looking back now) kicking the ball into his own goalkeeper, Djordje Petrovic, to gift-wrap Brentford a second (now that was festive).

It was a match which epitomised Diakite’s problems – he simply did not look up to the levels required for the physicality of the Premier League, and his work on the ball was not good enough to mask that. Goals were being shipped left right and centre, and whilst Diakite was not the cause for all of them, he certainly did not seem to be the solution for stopping them.

So in came Hill, and after a draw (against Chelsea) and defeat (to Arsenal) in Hill’s first two games, AFC Bournemouth did not lose a league game for the rest of the season.

The only blemish on that record? A penalty shoot-out defeat to Newcastle in the FA Cup. Again, it is not a match that Diakite will look back on with any type of fondness.

After what was a very solid performance next to Hill, The Cherries looked set to book their place in the next round of the FA Cup. That was until stoppage time, when Diakite’s slip means he missed a through ball, allowing Sandro Tonali one-on-one with Petrovic, who brought the Italian down. Anthony Gordon dispatched the forthcoming penalty, with the game going to extra time.

A remarkable 122nd minute equaliser from Marcus Tavernier, just minutes after Harvey Barnes put the hosts in front, saw the game go to penalties, and it was unfortunately Diakite who had a decisive penalty saved by Aaron Ramsdale, sending Newcastle through.

Diakite managed just 15 league minutes in the calendar year, and failed to make an appearance after January. As previously mentioned, that coupled with AFCB’s sensational 18 match unbeaten run in the PL – and that is no coincidence.

Next to the imperious Senesi, who excelled on the ball and often pressed very aggressively, AFCB needed a strong presence to complement him, and Diakite was not serving as that. Hill did, as a quick glance at their stats over the campaign will show us.

The first image is Diakite’s stats, followed by Hill’s. What is most notable from a glance at these is the amount of duels won by Hill, especially aerial duels. This ‘no-nonsense’ form of defending, where Hill headed almost anything that moved, and had fun doing it, is what Bournemouth were dearly missing. Whilst Hill does outscore Diakite in these metrics, it is worth noting that Hill played more minutes, although it is not unfair to say he did earn those with much improved performances compared to Diakite.

Again, the first set of statistics belong to Diakite, with the second belonging to Hill. Again, it is worth noting that Hill did play more minutes than his counter-part (2,104 to 1,275 – although some of Hill’s came at right-back). But alas, a glance at the numbers once again prove Hill brought to the side what Diakite couldn’t. His aggression as a defender allowed him to get far more defensive contributions, consisting of tackles, interceptions and blocked shots. Hill was dribbled past more – but again, I believe that only goes to show the higher level of aggression that Hill played with. This was imperative to the way Andoni Iraola wanted to play, as is well-known.

That leads us to an important point. Iraola has left the club to join Liverpool, with Marco Rose replacing him. A new manager brings a fresh start, and possibly new opportunities for Diakite. He is not the first big money signing, especially coming from a foreign league, to have struggled with the physicality of English Football. There is enough time to change that, and there were moments of quality from Diakite to show there is a player in there.

But that said, with Senesi leaving, it is likely the cash will be splashed again for a left sided replacement. That will likely leave the battle for the spot open between Hill, Diakite, and young Veljko Milosavljevic.

A profit of ~£70M was made on Huijsen and Zabarnyi, but it seems unlikely that Diakite will come close to that. Hopefully, he proves that statement to be very, very wrong.

Diakite will surely be given an opportunity to impress in pre-season, but if he does not immediately regain his place, what happens? Cut the losses? Or keep Diakite as a very expensive squad player – which will undoubtedly be needed in our first European adventure. Chances will be given to Diakite should he stay, and it is up to him to take them. An intriguing few months or so await.