Salif Diao
Diao with Stoke City in May 2009
|
|||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Salif Alassane Diao | ||
| Date of birth | 10 February 1977 | ||
| Place of birth | Kédougou, Senegal | ||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||
| Playing position | Defensive midfielder | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1996–2000 | Monaco | 27 | (0) |
| 1996–1997 | → SAS Épinal (loan) | 2 | (0) |
| 2000–2002 | Sedan | 49 | (0) |
| 2002–2007 | Liverpool | 37 | (1) |
| 2005 | → Birmingham City (loan) | 2 | (0) |
| 2005–2006 | → Portsmouth (loan) | 11 | (0) |
| 2006–2007 | → Stoke City (loan) | 16 | (0) |
| 2007–2012 | Stoke City | 72 | (1) |
| Total | 216 | (2) | |
| National team | |||
| 2000–2009 | Senegal | 39 | (4) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
|||
Salif Alassane Diao (born 10 February 1977) is a former Senegalese footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.
Diao moved from Senegal to France when he was seventeen and started his career at AS Monaco with whom he helped with the French Super Cup and French Division 1. He failed to hold down a regular place at Monaco and moved to Sedan in 2000. Diao then had an impressive 2002 World cup with Senegal which attracted the attention of several Premier League sides. It was Liverpool who won the race and signed Diao for £5 million in 2002.
His time at Liverpool was unsuccessful and was sent out on loan to Birmingham City, Portsmouth and Stoke City. He joined the latter Stoke permanently on a free transfer in 2007 and helped the club to promotion to the Premier League in 2008.
Diao was born in Kédougou, Tambacounda Region. He began his career in his native country before moving to France at the age of seventeen. He begin his professional career playing for AS Monaco in 1996 but did not feature for the club at all in the 1996–1997 season and was loaned out the Ligue 2 side SAS Épinal where he played 2 matches for the club. He returned to Monaco for the 1997–98 season where he 12 times in his second season at the club. he was also part of the AS Monaco side that won the French League in the 1999–2000 season. He also won a runner-up medal in the 2002 African Cup of Nations, where Senegal lost in extra time to Cameroon.
...
Wikipedia