Lamine Diack Loan Terminated: Yet Another Unsuccessful Loan With a Purchase Option

COMMERCE CITY – Colorado Rapids and FC Nantes announced the end of the Lamine Diack loan spell Sunday morning. Diack made just four appearances and played just 16 minutes for the Burgundy Boys.

Diack came in as a young and high potential defensive midfielder. It was believed he could be a part of the double pivot in Chris Armas’ 4-2-3-1 system. He had a lot of the defensive skills that were lost with Jack Price’s departure over the winter. He joined the team during the final week of preseason after the immigration paperwork took some time. His four months at the club did not go as planned.

Oliver Larraz played his way into a nice double pivot with Cole Bassett as Diack got familiar with his surroundings. So much so that Diack could not get into the lineup. There’s been no definitive reporting on the nature of the loan with an option to buy. Supposedly there was a loan fee. Nantes reportedly paid in excess of €2.5 million for the player from MKE Ankaragücü in Turkey. The French club narrowly avoided relegation from Ligue 1.

It’s unlikely then that the club would agree to sell the 23-year-old for a loss. Colorado paying a third (Djordje Mihailović and Rafael Navarro) big transfer fee in one year was going to require him starting and playing great. He did well in his four caps, coming on to play sweeper and see out results. It never got him more time. His last appearance was May 5 at NYCFC. He was an unused sub in three of the next ten games.

The failure of this move (to be clear, I’m not saying the player is a failure) comes down a combination of things.

He’s never played professionally outside of Europe. David Gauss Theorem applies: It took him sometime to get used to Denver, the club, and MLS. After that game against NYCFC, his training form dropped. Sources tell Burgundy Wave his internal grades on training were often some of if not the lowest on the team. Did his form drop because he was burnt out form an extended season coming from Europe? Was he demoralized from not getting playing time? Was it something else?

He’s admitted he’s quiet off the field. While Lalas Abubakar and the French speakers were his guys, he probably felt isolated a bit detached given the culture shift. His English was good enough to negotiate the deal without a translator. His only external interview was done entirely in English with Burgundy Wave.

The team did well without him. It’s still confusing to Burgundy Wave staff that so many Rapids fans were mad about Diack being a bust when on the other side Rapids homegrown Oli Larraz was finally getting a run with the first team and doing well.

It does say something about the club that several loans with an option to buy have not worked out and been really weird. Marko Ilić got bought after renegotiation having barely played last summer. He’s now on loan in Europe and likely on the way out. Then there’s Sidnei Tavares who’s still taking up dead cap space. He barely played last year having been sick with cramps or something for weeks. He was waived before the start of the year.

Are these three unsuccessful signings that were unsuccessful for unrelated reasons? Is the scouting team or analytics staff overhyping them? Is the club trying to find diamonds in the rough for bargains (which is really hard)? Is it just really hard for young somewhat unproven European players to come to MLS, adjust quickly, and prove they’re worth seven figure transfer fees unless they’re elite?

Club President Pádraig Smith even admitted weeks ago on DNVR that Diack would not be retained. His loan and purchase option were due to expire July 30. The loan ending a month early is clear everyone is ready to move on. Whatever the purchase option was (likely more than €2.5 million), he wasn’t worth it.

Diack could very well go back to Nantes, be reinvigorated, and get minutes for them in France. He just wasn’t a fit for Colorado. If Armas is able to make a combination of Bassett, Larraz, and Conor Ronan work in the double pivot, they’ll be fine. Diack’s TAM salary and INT slot can be used elsewhere. Maybe on another midfielder. Maybe on a winger or a center back if Moïse Bombito is sold.

If Larraz becomes a regular good starter on a playoff team come October, who cares?

Photo Credit: John Babiak

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