Pape Maly Diamanka

Pape Diamanka
Personal information
Full name Pape Maly Diamanka
Date of birth (1990-01-10) 10 January 1990 (age 34)
Place of birth Dakar, Senegal
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Central midfielder
Youth career
US Gorée
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2007–2009 US Gorée
2010–2013 Rayo Vallecano B 44 (1)
2011–2013 Rayo Vallecano 7 (0)
2012 → Vålerenga (loan) 9 (0)
2013–2014 Sestao 29 (2)
2014–2015 Leganés 28 (1)
2015–2016 Zaragoza 25 (3)
2016–2017 Almería 17 (0)
2017–2019 Numancia 66 (11)
2019–2021 Girona 23 (0)
2020–2021 → Albacete (loan) 27 (2)
2022 Logroñés 11 (0)
2023 Lleida Esportiu 9 (1)
2023–2024 Numancia 19 (0)
International career
2011 Senegal U23 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 2 June 2024

Pape Maly Diamanka (born 10 January 1990) is a Senegalese professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder.

He spent most of his career in Spain after arriving in the country in 2010, starting out at Rayo Vallecano.

Club career

Born in Dakar, Diamanka began his career with local US Gorée. In February 2010 he joined Spanish club Rayo Vallecano, being assigned to the reserves in the Tercera División and being a regular in his first full season, starting 23 games and completing 20 as the Madrid outskirts team retained their Segunda División B status.

On 13 June 2011, Diamanka renewed his contract with a €6 million buyout clause, also being promoted to the main squad for the 2011–12 campaign.[1] He spent several months on the sidelines due to bureaucratic problems.[2]

Diamanka made his competitive debut on 8 January 2012, playing 32 minutes as a substitute in the 2–1 La Liga home win against Sevilla FC.[3] On 23 August, he was loaned to Norway's Vålerenga Fotball for one season with the option for a permanent deal.[4]

After being released by Rayo, Diamanka moved to Salamanca AC but, after the club failed to register, he joined Sestao River Club on 26 August 2013.[5] On 18 July of the following year he signed for CD Leganés, newly promoted to the Segunda División.[6]

Diamanka scored his first professional goal on 21 September 2014, his team's first in a 2–2 home draw against Racing de Santander.[7] On 29 June 2015, he severed his ties and agreed to a three-year deal at Real Zaragoza also in the second tier.[8]

On 22 July 2016, after 15 starts and 1,334 minutes of action, Diamanka terminated his contract[9] and signed a two-year deal with UD Almería of the same league the same day.[10] On 10 August 2017, he moved to fellow second-division CD Numancia as a free agent.[11] He scored a career-best nine goals in 2018–19.[12]

On 5 July 2019, Diamanka signed a three-year contract with Girona FC, recently relegated to division two.[13] On 29 September of the following year, he was loaned to Albacete Balompié in the same tier;[14] in August 2021, he terminated his link to the former.[15]

Diamanka joined UD Logroñés of the newly-formed Primera División RFEF in January 2022.[16]

International career

Diamanka represented Senegal at various youth levels. In August 2011, he was called up by the senior team for a friendly with Morocco in Dakar,[17] but eventually did not make his debut.

Career statistics

As of 15 June 2019[18][19]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Rayo Vallecano B 2010–11 Segunda División B 26 0 0 0 0 0 26 0
2011–12 Segunda División B 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2012–13 Segunda División B 5 0 0 0 0 0 5 0
Total 31 0 0 0 0 0 31 0
Rayo Vallecano 2011–12 La Liga 7 0 0 0 0 0 7 0
2012–13 La Liga 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 7 0 0 0 0 0 7 0
Vålerenga (loan) 2012 Tippeligaen 9 0 0 0 0 0 9 0
Sestao 2013–14 Segunda División B 29 2 0 0 4[a] 1 33 0
Leganés 2014–15 Segunda División 28 1 1 0 0 0 29 1
Zaragoza 2015–16 Segunda División 25 3 0 0 0 0 25 3
Almería 2016–17 Segunda División 17 0 0 0 0 0 17 0
Numancia 2017–18 Segunda División 29 2 1 0 4[b] 1 34 3
2018–19 37 9 0 0 0 0 37 9
Total 66 11 1 0 4 1 71 12
Career total 212 17 2 0 8 2 222 19
  1. ^ Appearances in 2014 Segunda División B play-offs
  2. ^ 2018 Segunda División play-offs

References

  1. ^ Diamanka renueva su contrato con el Rayo Vallecano (Diamanka renews contract with Rayo Vallecano); Rayo Herald, 13 June 2011 (in Spanish)
  2. ^ Diamanka ya puede jugar con el Rayo Vallecano (Diamanka cleared to play with Rayo Vallecano); Mundo Deportivo, 5 January 2012 (in Spanish)
  3. ^ Reyes fails to shine; ESPN Soccernet, 8 January 2012
  4. ^ "Her signerer Diamanka" [Signing of Diamanka] (in Norwegian). VIF Fotball. 23 August 2012. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
  5. ^ "El Sestao ficha al senegalés Diamanka, que jugó siete partidos con el Rayo" [Sestao sign Senegalese Diamanka, who played seven matches with Rayo] (in Spanish). El Correo. 26 August 2013. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
  6. ^ "Diamanka, potencia y llegada para el centro del campo" [Diamanka, power and presence for the midfield] (in Spanish). CD Leganés. 18 July 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  7. ^ "El Leganés evita el primer triunfo de los cántabros justo al final" [Leganés deny the Cantabrians' first triumph right in the end] (in Spanish). Marca. 21 September 2014. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
  8. ^ "Pape Maly Diamanka, segunda incorporación del Real Zaragoza 2015/2016" [Pape Maly Diamanka, second addition of Real Zaragoza 2015/2016] (in Spanish). Real Zaragoza. 29 June 2015. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
  9. ^ "Acuerdo con Pape Diamanka para la rescisión de su contrato con el Real Zaragoza" [Agreement with Pape Diamanka for the termination of his contract with Real Zaragoza] (in Spanish). Real Zaragoza. 22 July 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  10. ^ "El Almería ficha al centrocampista Diamanka y al central Alex Quintanilla" [Almería sign midfielder Diamanka and stopper Alex Quintanilla] (in Spanish). UD Almería. 22 July 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  11. ^ "El centrocampista senegalés Diamanka ficha por el Numancia" [Senegalese midfielder Diamanka signs for Numancia] (in Spanish). Diario AS. 10 August 2017. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  12. ^ "Oviedo y Girona se 'pelean' por Diamanká [sic]" [Oviedo and Girona 'fight' over Diamanka] (in Spanish). Marca. 4 July 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  13. ^ "Pape Diamanka, nuevo jugador del Girona FC" [Pape Diamanka, new player of Girona FC] (in Spanish). Girona FC. 5 July 2019. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  14. ^ "Diamanka, cedit a l'Albacete" [Diamanka, loaned to Albacete] (in Catalan). Girona FC. 29 September 2020. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  15. ^ "Diamanka es desvincula del Girona" [Diamanka cuts ties with Girona] (in Catalan). Girona FC. 27 August 2021. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  16. ^ "La UD Logroñés añade músculo a su medular con Diamanka, su segundo fichaje de invierno" [UD Logroñés add muscle to their midfield section with Diamanka, their second winter signing] (in Spanish). Actualidad Rioja Baja. 25 January 2022. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  17. ^ Senegal call up Mbaye Niang for friendly. Archived 11 July 2012 at archive.today. African Soccer Weebly. 3 August 2011.
  18. ^ Pape Maly Diamanka at Soccerway
  19. ^ Pape Maly Diamanka at WorldFootball.net