Valencia Secures License Waiver for Diakhaby Amid Injury Crisis

La Liga has processed the cancellation of Mouctar Diakhaby’s license at the request of Valencia CF, which aims to free up a roster slot (numbers 2 and 4) to register new players the club has been working on since December. Valencia submitted a medical report to both the Federation and La Liga confirming that the French center-back, of Guinean descent, will be unavailable for over four months following surgery for a hamstring injury. The club needed to release Diakhaby’s license to accommodate multiple new signings, as acknowledged by coach Carlos Corberán, who stated that they expect to finalize these additions soon.

This week, Corberán confirmed that the club had requested the cancellation of Diakhaby’s federative license, clarifying that the player would miss the entire season due to injury. “We have a free license, and we have initiated the process to request Diakhaby’s because he is out for the entire season,” he mentioned during a press conference before the match against Burgos, discussing the team’s options for signing players without having to wait for other departures. Notably, as of Thursday afternoon, Diakhaby was no longer listed as part of Valencia’s professional team (shirt numbers 1-25) on La Liga’s official website, which updates new signings.

The cancellation of a player’s federative license is one of the scenarios accepted by the Federation, provided that all contract terms are respected, as outlined in Article 56, Section I: “Clubs may cancel the federative license of a professional player for roster purposes by providing documentation that complies with contract conditions. In these cases, the professional footballer may be re-registered during the same season with the same club that canceled their license, as long as this occurs within the designated registration periods for the category in which the team competes, and the provisions of Article 53.2 of these Regulations do not apply.”

Additionally, with this request, Valencia will be able to account for 40% of Diakhaby’s salary to enhance its financial fair play limit, aiming to comply with La Liga’s registration requirements. The club was already operating within a tight margin and required both consequences of Diakhaby’s license cancellation: a free roster spot (after the arrival of Sadiq, they now have shirt numbers 2 and 4 available) and additional financial flexibility for registrations.

It is worth noting that Valencia was already in search of a center-back before Diakhaby’s injury, having inquired about players with a left-footed profile. In fact, coach Carlos Corberán had previously stated that signing a center-back was “a priority,” later upgrading that to “urgent” after the severity of Diakhaby’s injury was confirmed.