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Adama Diomande is an international player who was acquired midseason, as Los Angeles Football Club looked for more goals (well at that point, any goals) from their center forward spot.
The Norwegian forward was signed in May at the primary transfer window deadline, as LAFC were looking for more striker help.
Like a few other players, Diomande had previous experience with coach Bob Bradley, playing under him on Stabaek in the Norwegian Tippeligaen in 2015, where Diomande excelled and scored 25 goals in 26 matches
The starting center forward to that point in the season for LAFC had been Marco Ureña.
While LAFC started off well, and Ureña contributed well in the overall scheme of LAFC’s attack, he didn’t score any goals early in the season. Also, Ureña was going to the World Cup with Costa Rica, so at the very least, LAFC would need a body to throw up front while the World Cup was going on.
Diomande proved to be much more than that, and he really hit the ground running when he joined LAFC.
He scored nine goals in his first seven games and was named MLS Player of the Month in his first month with the club. He also scored the first hat trick in LAFC history, in a win over the Philadelphia Union in June.
Diomande really was the full package up front.
He has a nose for goal, he’s physical and difficult for defenders to deal with, and is very technically gifted, especially in the box when you do not have a lot of time or space to operate.
When Ureña came back from the World Cup, he had been displaced by Diomande, and was forced to settle for sub appearances and cup starts.
Later on in the season, LAFC acquired Christian Ramirez in a trade with Minnesota United for more firepower up front. Despite Ramirez’s talent and MLS experience, he was unable to grab much playing time from Diomande as the central striker.
Diomande LAFC 2018 statistics
| 2018 | Games Played | Games Started | Minutes | Goals | Assists | Shots | SOG | Yellow Cards | Red Cards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Games Played | Games Started | Minutes | Goals | Assists | Shots | SOG | Yellow Cards | Red Cards |
| MLS Regular Season | 18 | 14 | 1,253 | 12 | 4 | 39 | 22 | 1 | 0 |
| U.S. Open Cup | 2 | 1 | 67 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MLS Playoffs | 1 | 1 | 45 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 21 | 16 | 1,365 | 12 | 4 | 41 | 22 | 1 | 0 |
The one area of concern from Diomande was his lack of a partnership with Carlos Vela.
For a while, the two did not complete many passes to each other, and just seemed to be on two separate pages up front.
Hopefully with a full offseason and no World Cup interruption next year, Vela and Dio will gain some chemistry and find a way to bring out the best in each other.
With a full MLS season to look forward to, hopefully the best is yet to come for Adama Diomande at LAFC.
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