Many of you may wonder why it has taken me until this point in the season to write about Keita Balde Diao, the undisputed gem of a difficult season for Lazio. The reason is very simple; I did not want to heap praise upon our precocious young talent too soon as I preferred to observe him play for a while longer and form a balanced opinion of his ability.
The Lazio youth system is an impressive and successful production line. In recent years the likes of Luis Cavanda, Eddy Onazi, Libor Kozak and Lorenzo Di Silvestri have worked their way into the senior squad, whilst others such as Marco Faraoni, Federico Macheda and Pajtim Kasami have found relative levels of success on foreign shores.
To go back even further, of course, the list is imperious: Alessandro Nesta, Paolo Di Canio, Marco Di Vaio, Mauro Tassotti, Bruno Giordano and Vincenzo D’Amico to name a few. The Primavera side that won the club’s first youth Scudetto in twelve years last season featured a player that I believe could potentially join that list of greats one day: Keita Balde Diao.
After a 2-0 win away to Cagliari on Sunday masterminded by the 19-year-old winger, I believe the time has now come to introduce one of the most thrilling talents to have emerged in Serie A for years.
Background
Keita’s path to the Olimpico has not been a straightforward one. Born in Catalonia to Senegalese parents, he was signed up by the prestigious Barcelona youth academy at a young age. Tipped to star for the senior squad one day, it was one bizarre incident in 2010 that ultimately led to the winger finding his way to Formello instead.
The 15 year-old Keita was with the Barcelona youth team for a tournament in Dubai, during which he played a practical joke on one of his team-mates by leaving an ice cube in their bed. Despite the clearly harmless nature of the joke, the Blaugrana decided to send Keita off on loan to UE Cornellà, a satellite club in the fourth tier of Spanish football, as punishment.
A spectacularly prolific season ensued in which the fleet-footed forward scored an incredible forty seven goals for the Cornellà’s youth team, which happened to be the same club another Barcelona youth product had been dispatched to a few years earlier: Jordi Alba. At this point Keita began to attract the attention of Real Madrid, Manchester United and Juventus. The Spaniard eventually turned down the offer of returning to Barcelona in order to join Lazio in the summer of 2011 for €300,000.
A frustrating period began in which Keita had to wait to be granted Spanish citizenship before the Biancoceleste could register him to play for the club. The youngster was unable to play official matches for over a year, but managed to impress in the youth competition Torneo Karol Wojtyla in which he scored six goals in four matches, including two in the final.
He could finally begin playing for Lazio’s Primavera side in January 2013, and impressed in half a season as he scored seven goals in fourteen appearances, winning the Scudetto.
This Season
Keita’s impact this season was slow-burning, as he sat on the bench for much of the start of the season without making it onto the pitch. It was only after a twenty minute substitute appearance against Genoa in Week 11 that the Spaniard began to play regularly.
The winger began the season by scoring twice in a 5-1 thrashing of Napoli for the Primavera side and scoring against Juventus in a 2-1 youth Supercoppa defeat that unfortunately ended in a 90th minute second yellow card.
From that point onwards the winger found himself in the senior squad, but he has returned to the Primavera side a couple more times this season – to help them win the derby 2-1 in November and when to score another two against Inter in a 4-2 Coppa Primavera win in January.
This prolific goalscoring record is impressive, and doubly so when you consider that his position is as a winger or attacking midfielder and that Keita is by no means a centre forward. It hasn’t been just his goals that have got laziali on their feet though – his pace, dribbling ability, skill and composure seem like those of a much more experienced player.
Having said that, his goalscoring record this season has been superb. He has scored four goals in sixteen appearances, but that doesn’t quite tell the full story. His first, against Parma, was a perfect example of composure as he rounded both defender and goalkeeper in a crowded box to tap in. His second, against Napoli, was explosive and a goal of the season contender, as he danced past four defenders into the area to finish coolly past Pepe Reina. His third against Chievo was with his left foot and from outside the area. His performance against Cagliari on Sunday was so mesmerising that seven-minute Youtube videos have been created in tribute to the young Spaniard’s dominance of the match, which ended with a deadly striker’s finish; one touch to control and a bullet into the bottom corner.
You may be thinking that four goals is not all that impressive a tally, but with a bit of investigation you quickly discover that it is. Keita has made an enormous impact on Serie A despite playing ninety minutes in only three Serie A matches all season, two of which were in the last two fixtures. In both Coppa Italia and Europa League he has played only two full matches, a total of seven complete appearances all season. Despite that, the winger scored one goal and made four assists during the Europa League campaign.
In total, he has played 1435 minutes of football across all competitions, which equates to about sixteen full appearances. This goes some way to showing how well he has seized the opportunities he has had to get on the pitch, particularly in the league.
And to return to his goalscoring record, he is far more efficient than any other Lazio player when it comes to minutes on the pitch per goal. The 19-year-old averages 166 minutes per goal for the Biancoceleste in Serie A. To put that in context, here are all of Lazio’s attackers in order:
- Keita Balde Diao: 166 minutes per goal
- Miroslav Klose: 289
- Brayan Perea: 293
- Antonio Candreva: 327
- Hernanes: 526
- Ederson: 547
- Senad Lulic: 637
- Felipe Anderson: Has not scored
In this regard, he has absolutely blitzed his teammates in terms of making his mark during his time on the pitch. In fact, digging deeper I discovered that Keita even bests some of Serie A’s top performers. There are in fact only nine players in the league with a better goals-per-minute tally and all of them, with the possible exception of Domenico Berardi, can be considered out and out strikers.
Those established Serie A stars include Rodrigo Palacio (183), Alberto Gilardino (189), Alessio Cerci (202), Antionio Cassano (178) and Arturo Vidal (196), and Keita’s figure of 166 matches that of Juventus’ Fernando Llorente, despite the Spanish international playing centre forward for the league’s most prolific and dominant side.
The future
Keita Balde Diao has been on an incredible journey this season, and his trajectory is only heading further upwards. In June last year (according to transfermarkt.com) the Spaniard was valued at €275,000. Fast forward nine months and his market value is said to be €4.8 million, although his agent has come out this week to say his client’s asking price would be closer to €15 million after rumours emerged linking the player to Premier League giants Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City.
As a Lazio fan, I have genuinely not been this excited about a young prospect for a very long time. He has all the abilities to become a world class player; he is quick, intelligent, two-footed, creative and a deadly finisher. The defensive side of his game still has much to answer for, but for the time being it has been a joy watching him let loose like he did in Sardinia on Sunday.
The fact that a player who has only played ninety minutes three times all season is being courted by Premier League giants with a €15 million price tag is testament to the general feeling that he is a unique talent. Despite years of being frustrated by reading, watching and listening to pundits and commentators over-hyping young players and stifling their progress, I will still confidently say that Keita Balde Diao is set to become a big name in European football. All I can do is hope that he makes that name in a Lazio shirt in the years to come.
Follow Alasdair Mackenzie on Twitter: @olimpiacalcio
Mike Trout on my baseball team, Keita Balde on my football team… I’m blessed with young talent! Another quality article, Alasdair. Thanks man.