Evann Guessand (on loan at Crystal Palace)

[eamonn]

He had a great shot on him, pace and a bit of trickery. Physically bullied too much, lost out on a lot of 50/50s and off the ball not much use.

[LeeB]

Err yeah, good luck with that.

[brontebilly]

Comparing Guessand to Zaha and Eze was not on today's bingo card

[martin o`who??]

Not even a YouTube player. I struggle to remember anything he did to excite me. I dread to think how much he's cost us in total for a little bit of fuck all.

[Dave]

I thought there was conviction in Diaby those few times he absolutely blasted the ball, accurately, into the net. I never understood the criticism he got. I have to check, but that season he was here must rank as one of our highest scoring of the modern era so not sure how you remember  attacks breaking down with him?

Particularly given how many Emery signings improve massively in their second season.

For a first season (in light of the first seasons of Youri, Onana, Maatsen etc) I thought it very decent.

Not "irreplaceable" decent, but no reason to sell unless we were making a good profit on him.

[Ozzjim]

Diaby felt like a player ready to kick on after a promising but at times very frustrating first season. Mainly his ability to get the ball in incredible positions then give it away. His goals were good and when he was on it, he was very very good.

[Goldenballs]

Diaby had 20 goals/assists in his first season I think, pretty impressive.

[PhilVill]

Praying he has a fantastic four months and we get rid for good money.

[KevinGage]

Diaby was a key part of our good start (Newcastle excepted) in 2023/24 and was particularly sharp during our purple patch in the autumn, when we seemed to be smashing teams by 4s and 5s every other week.

There was a regular spell there where almost any time the ball went down the right flank at VP, with any two of Bailey, Diaby and Watkins combining (and sometimes all three) that a goal felt almost inevitable. I've rarely felt that way watching the Villa.

He dropped of a bit when Bailey really came to the fore, and was prob miffed at having to come of the bench when (a) we'd spent so much money on him and (b) part of the reason he came to the club was to become a regular in the French national side.

Though the latter always seemed doomed to failure with Deschamps picking the squad.