ISC negotiate £5.3m club record transfer fee to bring Famara Diédhiou to Bristol City
ISC have completed the transfer of Angers SCO and Senegal striker Famara Diédhiouto Bristol City for a club record fee of £5.3m.
The club has eclipsed its previous transfer record of £3.25m, ironically spent on Jonathan Kodjia from the same French Ligue 1 club in 2015. Diédhiou, 24, has penned a four-year contract at Ashton Gate after City beat off competition from other clubs for his signature.
“I’m absolutely delighted. I think he’s going to be a huge player for us.“He fits the bill for us because he’ll complement all of our strikers perfectly. He’s powerful, he’s quick and I think he’s got the potential to get even bigger and stronger physically.. The beauty is that now is his time to shine. He’s a goalscorer in that he gets into good areas and can score different types of goals – volleys, headers and he’s got an attitude to shoot, which is what we’re after.“
Lee Johnson, Bristol City head coach
I think we can work with him and improve him, which is exciting for me because he’s a raw talent who can go as far as he wants in football.”He added: “Obviously it’s our record signing, which is amazing. Thank you to Steve, the Board and everybody involved in making the decisions, particularly how well Mark (Ashton) has done in this process because it’s never easy to bring in a player when the competition is so high.” Lee Johnson
City’s chief executive officer Mark Ashton said: “It’s big business and hopefully he’ll be a big player for this football club.“The transfer smashes our previous record and I think it’s a sign of intent that the club wants to move forward. I’d like to thank Angers for their professionalism and cooperation throughout this deal.“From our end, it’s not just me and it’s not just Lee. There’s a group of people in regards to recruitment; analysis, PR, media and contractual who have all worked behind the scenes on this for about a month now to try to get this deal done.“I’m delighted for everyone who has put such a shift in to doing this, but I also can’t say thank you enough to the Lansdown family for supporting the football club when we’ve asked. That needs to be recognised because this is a big transfer. I’m hoping he’ll reward that with goals.“Following the signing of Eros Pisano, who I think will be a really good signing for us at right-back, I’m hoping Diédhiou will give us another real boost.”
Diédhiou has risen through the leagues in France after starting out at ASM Belfort and then Epinal.He has scored goals wherever he has played, notably netting 22 times in 37 appearances during a loan spell at Clermont in 2015/16 to land the Ligue 2 golden boot and Player of the Year awards, which prompted Angers to pay £1.36m for his services.Diédhiou’’s first season in Ligue 1 saw him score nine times in 36 appearances, with Angers reaching the Coupe de France final for the second time in their history.The last player to make the switch from Angers to City was Kodjia two years ago. He went on to score 20 times in 48 appearances, with Aston Villa paying a Championship record fee of £15m to sign him 12 months later.Diédhiou, who has scored once in six appearances for his country, will now be looking to write his own story in BS3.
