Pape Malickou Diakhaté (born June 21, 1984 in Dakar) is a Senegalese professional football (soccer) player, currently plays for AS Saint-Étienne on loan from FC Dynamo Kyiv.

[edit] Career

Diakhaté has been at Nancy since his youth, and made his Ligue 2 debut on October 20, 2001, playing the first half of the 2-0 win over LB Châteauroux.

He played 25 league matches the following season, and has appeared regularly for the club, although his 2003-04 season was severely disrupted by injury^[1].

2004-05 brought Diakhaté favourable recognition, winning a place in France Football's team of the season.

Diakhaté is seen as a leading defender for the future and has therefore been linked to a number of larger clubs such as Liverpool, Portsmouth, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Schalke and Stuttgart as well as Lyon.

However, on July 18, 2007 it was announced that he has signed a contract with Ukrainian club Dynamo Kyiv. Diakhaté made his debut for Dynamo on August 1, 2007 in a league fixture against FC Chornomorets Odessa^[2]. Pape quickly established himself in a first team and has even captained it. Month later on September 1 he broke a collar bone in a match against FC Kharkiv, but has recovered since and returned to the team. On 16 December 2009 left the Ukrainian club Dynamo Kyiv, and turned back to France who signed a half year loan contract with AS Saint-Étienne^[3].

[edit] Position

Originally a left-back and capable of playing as a wide midfielder, he is recognised mainly as a centre-back.

[edit] Interantional career

He earned in 2004 also a full international call-up from Senegal. After Nancy's promotion to Ligue 1 in 2005, Diakhaté was also part of the Senegalese team that finished fourth in the 2006 African Cup of Nations.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• (Ukrainian) Diakhaté's profile at Dynamo's official website

v • d • e Senegal squad – 2006 Africa Cup of Nations 1 Sylva • 2 Daf • 3 N'Daw • 4 Diakhaté • 5 Diawara • 6 Barry • 7 H. Camara • 8 Niang • 9 S. Camara • 10 Ba • 11 E. Diouf • 12 A. Faye • 13 Diatta • 14 Mendy • 15 Kamara • 16 M. Diouf • 17 Coly • 18 Dramé • 19 Bouba Diop • 20 Diagne-Faye • 21 Beye • 22 N'Diaye • 23 Djiba • Coach: Sarr