The model pupil from Mali

He arrives bang on time for the interview appointment, holding two drinks bottles in one hand and a thick stack of autograph cards that he intends to sign in the other. Dangling from his ring finger is a watch that he's about to slip over his wrist. But he is then greeted rather more physically than anticipated by an acquaintance and the watch falls to the floor, cracking the glass. A disappointed Diadie Samassékou looks down at the broken wristwatch. "It's a real shame," he says. But Samassékou does not allow a stroke of misfortune to darken his mood; quite the opposite in fact: the 23-year-old starts his interview with SPIELFELD with a smile on his face.

"I have big ambitions," he says. "I made a very conscious decision to move to TSG Hoffenheim. This club has a reputation for promoting and improving young talent. Even in Mali, where I come from, people know that." He turned down offers from other clubs – among them RB Leipzig, who would have liked to bring him to Saxony from Red Bull headquarters in Salzburg. The Austrian champions themselves wanted to keep him, while other parties contacted his agent. But Samassékou opted for TSG, who broke their transfer record to bring the player to the Kraichgau.

"I have my own style"

A tough-tackling, aggressive player most at home in a central defensive midfield role, Samassékou reads the game well and has a good footballing brain. He sees himself as a different type of player to his fellow midfielders at TSG and believes he has a different style of play to Sebastian Rudy, Florian Grillitsch and Dennis Geiger. "I have my own style," he says. "It's normal to have competition for places. That's the case everywhere; you simply need to assert yourself." Samassékou has already showcased his abilities twice, making substitute appearances in Frankfurt and Leverkusen. He looked full of confidence and showed no hesitation. And Alfred Schreuder's charges are yet to concede a goal in the 33 minutes that Samassékou has spent in a TSG Hoffenheim shirt to date.

At the beginning of August, he played the full 90 minutes as Red Bull Salzburg beat Gladbach's Europa League conquerors Wolfsberger AC by a 5-2 scoreline in the Austrian Bundesliga. But within a few weeks, he was already endearing himself to his new team-mates thanks to his very open, affable and communicative manner. He already speaks four languages. "We speak a dialect in my homeland; I learned French at school; English in Austria because we had a Spanish coach, Óscar García; and then [I learned] German quickly too."

According to César Thier, who predominantly looks after the new signings at TSG, Samassékou is an inquisitive person who is interested in a lot of things and asks a lot of questions. "I've already got to know several players from Africa. Not many integrate as quickly and as willingly as Diadie," said Thier of the Malian, whose first name is pronounced "Tschadsche" in German. 

Born into a sporting family

He may be plying his trade in Sinsheim, but his homeland remains an important reference point for Samassékou. The third-oldest son in a sporting family, he was born in the capital of Bamako and grew up in the Faladié district. His mother Aissata played elite-level basketball, while his eldest brother Drouss was a professional for African clubs and is now the assistant to his advisor. Diadie's younger brother Tigué is hoping to follow in his footsteps and embark upon his own professional career in Europe. Only his sister Ina and his brother Sory are less keen on sport.

It was evident how precociously talented the young Diadie was when he was spotted among the hundreds of young street footballers and invited to join the JMG Academy – which had previously produced a raft of top stars including Gervinho, the Touré brothers and Hertha striker Salomon Kalou – at the age of 11. He left the family home and attended the academy boarding school. Initially, his father Ousmane was not wholly convinced by his plan. "I was only able to win him and my mother over because I was good at school," Samassékou explains.

Samassékou became a model pupil. He certainly had enough role models among his countrymen: there was Seydou Keita, who enjoyed a long spell with FC Barcelona and is the most-capped Malian international in history; Mahamadou Diarra, who shone at Real Madrid; and Soumaila Coulibaly, who made more than 250 appearances in Germany – mostly for Freiburg. Hoffenheim's new signing knuckled down and worked hard until he started to stand out, and was signed by AS Real Bamako aged 17 in 2003. Almost two years later, he was playing in the Malian top flight and drawing attention to himself with consistently good performances.

Success at the U20 World Cup

Samassékou was handed his senior international debut for Mali at the age of 18 years, five months and 18 days, then made a name for himself with the U20 squad at the 2015 World Cup in New Zealand a year later. The team had already surpassed all expectations by qualifying for the knockout stages, but then finished the tournament in third place thanks to a quarter-final victory over a Germany side featuring a whole host of current Bundesliga players such as Julian Brandt, Julian Weigl, Niklas Stark and his current team-mate Kevin Akpoguma.

It was Samassékou who scoring the deciding spot-kick as Germany were beaten 4-3 on penalties following a 1-1 draw. It was the biggest success in Malian football history and a source of solace for the West African country, the north of which had been ravaged by war since 2012. To this day, the presence of foreign troops – including German soldiers – is required.

Samassékou had become a sporting hero to his countrymen during the World Cup. He had only missed a single minute of the seven matches at the tournament – the result of a tactical tweak – and marshalled the team brilliantly from his position in front of the defence, even contributing two goals as "Les Aigles" (The Eagles) recorded an unprecedented success. "We were and still are a team in which many of the players have known each other since the academy. We're strewn across Europe but we keep in contact with each other via a WhatsApp group."

Via Liefering and Salzburg to Hoffenheim

Then it was time for the next step. The young midfielder, who has Mino Raiola – probably the most famous agent in world football – fighting his corner, completed a switch to RB Salzburg. He began his career in Austria with the Red Bulls' feeder team, Liefering. "The first winter was hard, it was even worse than how it had been described," he recalls, laughing. But he adapted in no time. Following a season in Liefering, he was deemed to be mature enough for Red Bull Salzburg, where he starred as the midfield engine under current Gladbach coach Marco Rose and made 39 competitive appearances in his debut campaign. In total, he played for the Red Bulls 134 times, winning three titles. After competing in the African Cup of Nations with Mali this summer, he was ready to move on.

Now, at TSG Hoffenheim, Diadie Samassékou is hoping to take the next step of his career.