Diakite needs to be trustworthy on the pitch – Ramsey
Chris Ramsey has responded to Samba Diakite’s plea for a chance to resurrect his QPR career by telling the midfielder he must prove he can be trusted on the pitch.
Diakite, who has not made a league appearance for Rangers for more than two years, recently told West London Sport he wanted to see out the final year of his contract and urged head coach Ramsey to select him.
The Mali international, 26, returned in the summer after spending last season on loan at Saudi Arabian side Al Ittihad.
He featured during pre-season and at times showed some of the recklessness that has led to him being sent off twice – including on his debut – since joining QPR from Nancy in 2012.
Diakite was also sent off during a brief loan spell at Watford the season before last and has been shown a total of 14 yellow cards in his 31 appearances in English football.
“We say to Samba ‘You’re a very good player but you need to control your temperament.’ He’s very eager, shall I say,” said Ramsey.
“The advice that we give to Samba is that you need to be trusted on the field of play. You can have everything else but at the moment he’s trying to keep a lid on that and control that part of his game.
“He has got ability but that trust element is very, very important. You could be winning the game and then give away a silly penalty or free-kick. He has the ability to defend properly, though.”
Diakite made a major impact after arriving in west London, initially on loan, and quickly became a fans favourite.
But he barely featured under Ramsey’s predecessor Harry Redknapp and Rangers have made several attempts to offload him.
“Samba trains and plays hard. I played him against Atalanta and he impressed,” Ramsey said.
“As a person you would want him to do well. But you know football is a cruel game and you can only pick the players you believe are going to help the team win.
“At the moment I haven’t been able to fit him into the squad. He’ll still be treated with the same respect as everyone else.”
