"Experience needed to help our youngsters"

INTERVIEWS With Amadou Diawara, Anderlecht realized a big transfer today. Both Felice Mazzu and Peter Verbeke are pleased that the Guinean midfielder has chosen Anderlecht. "Amadou himself also made a lot of efforts to make this transfer possible," Verbeke stressed.


Diawara reportedly earned around 4 million euros per year at AS Roma. An amount that Anderlecht obviously can't offer him. Nevertheless, he opted for a Belgian adventure. "I am convinced that Anderlecht is the ideal step in my career," Diawara tells rsca.be. "In Serie A I learned a lot, but it's time for a new challenge. I want to share my experience and am keen to prove myself."

Verbeke: "Amadou is very driven to show himself"

"With Adrien Trebel dropping out, we lost a lot of experience that is needed to frame our many young players. We also wanted to add some extra power to our core," CEO Verbeke explained the transfer of Diawara. "We are confident that Amadou can help us achieve this."

"Amadou is very driven to show himself back after a difficult season at AS Roma. He made a lot of efforts himself to make this transfer possible. His excellent mentality should allow him to find his best level again."

Mazzu: "We missed muscle power and intensity"

Coach Felice Mazzu has known Diawara for a long time. At his press conference this afternoon, he said that he already analyzed Diawara a few years ago when he was still playing at Napoli and Mazzu was coach at Genk. "We played against each other in the Champions League then," Mazzu said. "Now I have re-examined him with my staff and he has the profile we are looking for."

What that profile is, Mazzu knows all too well. "Against Union we were missing muscle power and intensity, Diawara can bring that. That he barely played last season? I wouldn't call that dramatic, but we are going to bring him in carefully. Diawara is a player with a good physic. He will be in the right rhythm soon."