Hull City signed Adama Diomande in 2015, however the move proved to be a massive disappointment.
Hull City has historically battled to maintain their Premier League status.
Every time the team was demoted from the top flight, the Tigers returned with the hope of regaining their place.
So, following their relegation in the 2014/15 season, Hull vowed to return as quickly as possible, and they made some interesting additions to assist them achieve that aim, one of which being Adama Diomande.
The forward arrived at a high price, and given how well he had done in Norway, there were high expectations for the attacker – but it did not turn out to be as good as everyone had thought.
Hull City signed Adama Diomande for £1.7 million following Norway’s purple patch. Diomande began his football career in his native Norway, where he played for Lyn before moving on to Skeid, Hodd, and Stromsgodset.
Diomande was a prolific goalscorer in the Norwegian league in his early career, scoring 29 goals in all competitions between 2011 and 2013, earning him his first big money move, to Dinamo Minsk in Belarus.
He spent a year there before returning to Norway with Stabaek in 2015, and it was during this brief period that Diomande gained recognition from English clubs.
The forward had scored 25 goals for Stabaek in just 26 games in all competitions, which clearly piqued the Tigers’ interest, and they paid £1.7 million to sign him.
The Tigers were hoped the striker would be able to propel them back into the Premier League, but things didn’t go as planned.
Adama Diomande’s stint with Hull City was disappointing altogether.
As previously stated, Diomande was a prolific goal scorer when playing in Norway.
So, after scoring 25 goals in just a few months before joining Hull City, the Championship club hoped he could carry his scoring touch with him to England.
For whatever reason, Diomande struggled to find his scoring touch in England, netting only eight goals in 64 appearances for the club across all competitions.
Aside from not scoring goals for the Tigers, Diomande was not a frequent starter for the club, appearing only 11 times in his first season at the KC Stadium in the second tier of English football.
Hull’s 2015/16 season was successful, as the club was promoted back to the Premier League, but playing in a higher division did nothing to aid the forward, as he simply lacked the quality to impose himself in the league – even though he appeared more often.
Diomande appeared in 22 Premier League games that season, but he scored only two goals, and the East Yorkshire team was relegated back to the Championship.
Diomande’s final season with Hull came in 2017/18, and he didn’t play much and scored only once.
Overall, Diomande’s first season at Hull was his most successful in front of goal, but it did not meet the expectations of the fans or the club’s management.
Diomande started only three of the 11 games he played that season, averaging only 28 minutes per game, according to Sofascore.com.
However, in retrospect, the Norwegian’s minutes-to-goal ratio wasn’t that bad – Diomande was averaging a goal every 102 minutes of football, which was an acceptable record given his limited time on the game.
Given how much Hull paid for Diomande in 2015, and how he performed as a player overall, it was a disappointing signing for both the team and the individual.
It has been proved before and will be shown again, but not every player can adapt to the English game, and Diomande just lacked the goal-scoring talent and skill to have a significant impact in the Championship and Premier League.
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