Bournemouth sign Lille's Bafode Diakite for £34.6m: Decoding his stats
13 Aug 2025

Premier League club AFC Bournemouth have signed French center-back Bafode Diakite from Lille.

The transfer fee is reported to be around £34.6 million, making it one of the most expensive deals in the club's history.

As per BBC Sport, the deal consists of an initial payment of £30.3 million with an additional £4.3 million in potential add-ons.

This makes Diakite Bournemouth's second most expensive signing after striker Evanilson from FC Porto last season for a fee that could rise to £40.2 million.

Diakite made 112 appearances for Lille across three seasons
Player profile

The 24-year-old defender made 112 appearances for Lille across three seasons.

He made 48 appearances last season in all competitions, scoring 4 goals.

In 2023-24, he played 28 games and scored six times. In 2022-23, he scored thrice in 36 appearances.

Notably, 85 of his appearances came in Ligue 1 for the club. He managed 12 goals.

Last season, he helped the team finish fifth in the French top flight. He also played 10 times in the Champions League.

Diakite was the highest-scoring defender in France
Career highlights

Diakite joined Lille from Toulouse for £2.5 million in 2022.

Notably, he managed 82 appearances for Toulouse and scored 7 goals. 25 of his appearances came in Ligue 1 for Toulouse.

Manwhile, during his time with Lille, he was highest-scoring defender in France during that period.

His impressive track record and goal-scoring ability are expected to bolster Bournemouth's defense as they prepare for the new Premier League season.

Decoding his stats in Ligue 1 2024-25 season
Ligue 1 2024-25

Diakite made 31 Ligue 1 appearances last season for Lille, scoring four goals and making an assist. He was part of 10 clean sheets.

As per Squawka Comparison Matrix (data by Opta), Diakite clocked 15 shots (excluding blocks) with 7 of them on target.

He created two chances and owned a passing accuracy of 93.44%.

He made 31 tackles and completed 9 take-ons. He also won 118 duels and made 96 clearances and 27 interceptions.