Diakhaby singles out Ikoné and Bamba as men to watch for Lille

Mouctar Diakhaby has singled out two danger men in the LOSC Lille ranks, players he knows well from his time at Olympique Lyonnais and in the French Under-21s setup.

The defender is wary of Jonathan Ikoné and Jonathan Bamba, and hails the talent of the former in particular.

"Ikoné is very good, and for me he is the best player LOSC Lille have," he says of the player brought through the PSG youth system, with whom he has shared a dressing room with the Under-21s national team -including qualifying games for Euro 2021. Ikoné scored a number of goals alongside Nicolás Pépé -now at Arsenal- last season.

Diakhaby has also had experience of Jonathan Bamba in the Under-21s, but has played against him more frequently at youth level due to the pair being the same age. In 2015, they squared off in the Coupe Gambardella Under-19s tournment, in which Diakhaby's Lyon beat Bamba's AS Saint-Etienne on penalties on their way to lifting the cup at the Stade du France.