Huddersfield Town and Nottingham Forest will share confusion over player's £9m price-tag | OneFootball

Huddersfield Town paid £9m for Adama Diakhaby but he failed to live up to expectations, whilst he also struggled with Nottingham Forest.

After defying the odds to survive in the Premier League in the 2017/18 campaign, Huddersfield Town needed a big summer window in a bid to avoid the dreaded ‘second season syndrome’.

Even with the riches that another year in the top flight brought, the Terriers were still the underdog, unable to compete with many rivals when it came to wages and fees.

Nevertheless, the board did all they could to support David Wagner at the time, with Terence Kongolo and Adama Diakhaby the two big-money arrivals that summer.

Adama Diakhaby was a major flop for Huddersfield Town

In Diakhaby, Huddersfield hoped they were getting an attacker who could give them a different dynamic in the final third, and, at £9m, he was an expensive purchase.

Joining from Monaco, the 22-year-old had played for France’s U21 side and had featured almost 50 times in Ligue 1.

So, he appeared to be a decent signing on paper, and under the guidance of Wagner, the Yorkshire outfit hoped he would make a big contribution on the pitch, increasing his value along the way.

However, things did not work out that way at all.

Whilst he had pace, it became apparent very quickly that Diakhaby wasn’t at the level required, and his first season in English football ended with no goals and no assists from 12 appearances as Huddersfield were relegated with a whimper.

Even then, allowances could be made for Diakhaby, as he was a relatively young player moving to a new country, and he was testing himself against some of the best in the world.

In some ways, relegation could’ve helped him kickstart his career with Huddersfield, as he would be playing at a lower level, where he could show his ability.

But, the truth is that nothing really changed, as the player looked poor in the second tier. So much so, the Terries sanctioned a temporary move for Diakhaby to Nottingham Forest in the 2020 January window.

From Forest’s perspective, this was a low-risk move as it was only a loan, and they were gambling that a change of clubs could help Diakhaby find the form that he had shown in France.

Instead, Forest fans will have been left as mystified as Huddersfield supporters as to how the player they were watching had commanded a fee of nearly £10m.

Once again, Diakhaby just couldn’t get going, as he struggled to fit into the team and failed to take the opportunities that came his way on the pitch.

Forest will be relieved that they didn’t spend the big money to sign the winger, and there was no danger of the East Midlands side looking to make the switch a permanent one.

Adama Diakhaby’s career after Huddersfield Town

Diakhaby’s contract with Huddersfield was expiring in the summer of 2021, but with the player out of the picture under another new boss, it was agreed to let him leave for Amiens at the end of the mid-season window.

In the end, he departed having failed to score a goal in 48 appearances for the club, so he undoubtedly goes down as one of the worst signings made by the Terriers.

Since moving on, Diakhaby hasn’t exactly shown that his time at Huddersfield and Forest was just a poor spell in his career.

His time in Ligue 2 with Amiens was tough, with Diakhaby then moving to Azerbaijan side Qarabag, but he couldn’t get regular minutes over a two-year period.

So, this summer brought the latest move in his career, as he joined Turkish second-division side Bandirmaspor.

They currently sit second in the table as they look to win promotion. Yet, it won’t come as a surprise to those connected to Huddersfield or Forest that Diakhaby, now 28, is yet to register a goal or an assist.