FORMER Manchester City prospect Sadou Diallo reckons the Premier League title will not be settled to his liking on Sunday.
And he believes there is a long way to go to evaluate Derry City’s credentials, despite a big 72 hours in which they play both St Pat’s and Shamrock Rovers in Dublin.
Diallo spent six years on City’s books before leaving for Wolves in 2018.
But, despite his time in their ranks, alongside Shelbourne full-back Tyreke Wilson and St Pat’s midfielder Romal Palmer, he will not be rooting for City on Sunday.
He admitted: “I am an Arsenal fan, so I wanted Tottenham to beat City the other night.
“I think it’s going to be a bad last day, we need City to lose or draw.
“Phil Foden is the only player from my time there, so I don’t feel too bad cheering against them. I was in the academy with him, he was a year younger, he always had good qualities so it’s no surprise how well he has done.”
But big things were expected of Diallo, too.
He was capped at Under-16, Under-17 and Under-18 level and included in Under-19 squads by England.
Released by City aged 19, he had three years with Wolves but his only first-team football came during a loan spell with Accrington Stanley.
A permanent move to Forest Green Rovers followed but that did not work out as hoped, prompting his move to Derry in July 2022.
His talent was immediately obvious but he was sidelined for the first 3½ months of this campaign because of knee surgery after a tackle in a pre-season game against Finn Harps.
The 24-year-old has been eased back into action with appearances off the bench against Shelbourne and Bohemians and is keen now to step it up.
Diallo — who was born in Guinea but grew up in Rotherham — said: “It was very frustrating because I was fit for the duration of last season.
“It was my first season as a professional to be fit to play week-in, week-out.
“So to go from that to being out for almost four months was very tough.
“As soon as I had the scan, I was told there were two options, to try to let it settle down or have surgery.
“I really don’t like being injured but it was better in the long term for me to have the operation so that made my mind up.
“I had it done in Belfast and did all of my rehab at the club but the gaffer and physio let me go home for a few days, which was good.”
KICKING ON
Under contract until the end of next season, Diallo believes moving to the Candystripes — where he linked up with former City colleague Will Patching — has helped him to kick on.
He explained: “The gaffer has given me a platform since I came in which I needed because, before that, my career was stop-start.
“Going from academy to first-team football was a big change for me because you go from three points not meaning too much to it meaning everything.
“It’s what you want as a player but it takes some getting used to.
“In an academy you’re learning to keep the ball but, at Forest Green for example, you just had to win, find a way to win. Sometimes it wasn’t enjoyable but you do what you have to do.
“Here, the teams towards the top do like to play and on Friday it’s going to be a good pitch with both teams who want to keep the ball which is good.
“You get some teams in England looking to do that too, but not all.”
While St Pat’s will hope for a bounce from Stephen Kenny’sappointment, Diallo is keen for Derry to keep ticking over.
He said: “You can’t think too much about titles now, you’ve just got to take one game at a time and move on.
“We’ve two games in three days so we can’t look beyond that but we know we have a good squad and are moving in the right direction.”