Preston North End have announced that defender Bambo Diaby has penned an extended new contract with the club.
The 24-year-old penned a short-term deal with the Lilywhites back in January, but following his seven appearances under Ryan Lowe between January and the end of the 2021-22 Championship season, Diaby has put pen-to-paper on a new two-year deal.
It will keep him around at Deepdale until the summer of 2024 and it represents a drastic change in fortunes for the Senegalese centre-back.
Quiz: The big Preston North End striker quiz – Score over 80% and you can call yourself a true Lilywhites fan
Diaby arrived in England in the summer of 2019, signing for Barnsley from Belgian outfit Lokeren, but having failed a drugs test in January 2020, he was eventually banned from football for a two-year period – despite testing positive for higenamine he was found to have unknowingly ingested the substance.
Before his ban expired earlier this year, Diaby began training with North End, and he showed enough during his appearances in the most recent season to warrant being offered a new contract at Deepdale.
The Verdict
Despite being prone to an error, Diaby offers something that no other PNE defender has – strength and pace in abundance.
The Senegalese centre-half got the better of many a striker in his North End appearances last season in a foot race, meaning that if he does make errors then he can more-often than not compensate by chasing the opposition down.
Diaby is by no means the finished article – Ryan Lowe made that perfectly clear when revealing that he would be offered a new deal.
But if Lowe can iron the mistakes out of Diaby then North End could have a very good asset on their hands.
