Sporting hand Ousmane Diomande a new role, surprise switch on the cards | OneFootball

Having overcome the physical problems that affected him in the first half of the season, as well as the time he spent at AFCON serving the Ivory Coast, Ousmane Diomande has regained his starting spot in Sporting’s defense. In addition to his strong physical presence in duels, the center-back also ensures a high level of effectiveness in marking and, meanwhile, has also started to stand out for his long passing.

This is a characteristic that has long been demonstrated by his positional partner, Gonçalo Inácio. The 22-year-old athlete has been working on his accuracy in placing the ball in the final third of the pitch and has even received permission from Rui Borges to take more risks in this specific aspect.

The season has entered its final third and coaches are already well aware of the opponents’ offensive movements, especially at the league level. With this in mind, the Sporting coach is testing new solutions to vary the usual positional attack, which has yielded such good results so far, as the national back-to-back champions have scored 59 goals in the 23 league matches played.

It should be noted that the Ivory Coast international has already renewed his contract with Sporting until 2030. “I am very happy. Sporting is truly a big club, not only in Portugal but also worldwide,” he said in January, on the club’s official channel.

In the current 2025/26 sports season, Ousmane Diomande – valued at 45 million euros – has played 17 matches for Sporting: 10 in Liga Portugal Betclic, five in the Champions League, one in the Portuguese Cup, and another in the Super Cup. In total, the center-back has accumulated 1,367 minutes and scored one goal.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.