He played for Arsenal and PSG, ‘admired’ Arsene Wenger and went on to become Guinea’s manager

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Arsenal are preparing for the visit of PSG to the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal are about to play their first Champions League semi final in 16 years but PSG have complained to UEFA over their ticket allocation for the away end at the Emirates Stadium.

The French media are ‘worried’ about their form heading into the game following a defeat at home to Nice in Ligue 1.

Mikel Arteta will know however that his side will need to be at their best despite that hiccup and Arteta has fond memories of his time at PSG.

David Luiz and Nicolas Anelka are other players that have featured for both great sides but one star who represented both went on to became a national team manager.

READ MORE: Aaron Ramsdale says Arsenal will become ‘favourites’ to win Champions League if they do one thing vs PSG

Kaba Diawara’s Arsenal and PSG career

Arsene Wenger signed forward Kaba Diawara from French side Bordeaux in January 1999, months after having won the Premier League and FA Cup for the Gunners.

Having successfully brought in the likes of Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit, Wenger was looking to find more gems in the French market and acquired Diawara for his squad.

Diawarda made 14 appearances for the Gunners that season but failed to find the back of the net or make an assist during his time at Highbury and was sold to Marseille in the summer of 1999.

PSG acquired the forward in January 2000 and he made 20 appearances for the famous French side, scoring two goals and creating one.

He spent some further time in England during loan spells with Blackburn Rovers and West Ham United before eventually heading to Turkey and Cyprus towards the end of his career.

In 2024, Diawara took charge of Guinea as their national team manager for four games in the Olympic Games but lost every match during the group phase.

Kaba Diawara admired Arsene Wenger

As per Afrique Sports, Diawara was a huge admirer of Wenger, the man who bought him to Highbury at the beginning of his career.

Diawara’s main inspiration from Wenger was the former Arsenal manager’s passion for the collective and Diawara cited the phrase: “The passer is as important as the goal scorer.”

Alex Iwobi recently credited Wenger for the role he played in shaping his football career and the Arsenal legend made a lasting impact on the footballing world.

One of those players was Kaba Diawara and he will now watch on wit intrigue as two of his former clubs look to break their Champions League duck and win the competition for the first time.