Bristol City smash transfer record to bring in £5m Senegal star
Bristol City have paid a club record £5.3million fee to sign Senegal international Famara Diedhiou from French club Angers.
Diedhiou, 24, has agreed a four-year deal and is the Sky Bet Championship club’s second new summer signing following Tuesday’s arrival of defender Eros Pisano on a free transfer from Hellas Verona.
“Obviously it’s our record signing, which is amazing,” Robins head coach Lee Johnson told the club’s official website.
“Thank you to (chairman) Steve (Lansdown), the board and everybody involved in making the decisions, particularly how well (chief operating officer) Mark (Ashton) has done in this process because it’s never easy to bring in a player when the competition is so high.”
Forward Diedhiou scored nine goals in 36 appearances in Ligue 1 last season for Angers, who paid £1.36million to sign him from Sochaux last summer.
✍️ #BristolCity sign Angers SCO forward Famara Diédhiou for a club record fee of £5.3m. https://t.co/A2fQwdP51T
— Bristol City FC (@bcfctweets) June 28, 2017
“I’m absolutely delighted,” Johnson added. “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.”
Diedhiou started out in the French lower leagues with ASM Belfort, Epinal and then Ajaccio before joining Sochaux in 2014.
He was Ligue 2’s leading goalscorer in the 2015/16 season while on loan at Clermont before moving on to Angers, and has made six appearances for Senegal.