Huddersfield Town supporters will struggle to believe player was earning £30k p/w in the Premier League with them: View | OneFootball

The 2018/19 season was a tough one for Huddersfield Town and their fans, and no player typifies that struggle more than Adama Diakhaby.

The winger signed for the then Premier League side in the summer of 2018 for an undisclosed fee from Monaco, after a relatively successful previous season in Ligue 1, playing alongside the likes of Youri Tielemans, Fabinho and Radamel Falcao.

The now 27-year-old did struggle with injury during his Premier League season with the side, but of the appearances he did make, he struggled to impress at the John Smith's Stadium, so much so that despite relegation that season, the club still decided to loan him out to then fellow Championship side Nottingham Forest midway through the next campaign.

His career since leaving Yorkshire suggests that the Premier League was perhaps a step too far and too soon.

A difficult, and expensive, season in front of goal

Diakhaby managed just 13 appearances in all competitions during the 2018/19 season for the Terriers, and failed to register a single goal involvement.

It is estimated by Capology that Diakhaby was earning £30,000 per week during this campaign, under the three-year contract that was signed as part of his transfer.

That coupled with the undisclosed fee paid, said to be in the region of £9m (Yorkshire Live), makes the winger an expensive outlay for no attacking return, and is a symptom of some of the issues the club were faced with at that time.

Worse still, Diakhaby didn't score a goal in his entire time at Huddersfield, but did manage to provide four assists.

Diakhaby a symbol of a poor campaign for Huddersfield

Although Diakhaby turned out to be a poor investment, it would be unfair to single him out individually for his performances during that season, as there were few players that proved productive during the club's second Premier League season.

The Terriers ended that season at the base of the league, 20 points from safety and managing just three wins throughout the campaign.

It was not solely Diakhaby struggling for goals, as the team scored just 22 league goals in the entire term, coincidentally the same amount netted individually by the league's top scorers that season: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah.

Relegation beckoned and Huddersfield have not returned to the top flight since.

Where Adama Diakhaby is now

Following another tough season, including a dry spell on loan at Forest, Diakhaby left the club on deadline day in the January window of 2021 for an undisclosed fee, but much of the commentary around the move focused on the relief of having the Frenchman off the wage bill.

He returned to France to join Ligue 2 side Amiens SC, but in the summer of the following year was without a club.

In January 2023, Diakhaby signed for Azerbaijani side Qarabag FK as a free agent, signing a two-and-a-half-year deal.

At just 27 years old, it may seem something of a step-down considering he played Premier League football as a 22-year-old, but Diakhaby is enjoying some of the most productive football of his career and has recently competed in European football as part of Qarabag's Champions League and Europa League qualification games.

The move will go down as an expensive mistake for Huddersfield, but lessons were likely learned for the future, and Diakhaby appears to have now found a club where he can enjoy his football.