As part of the long-term vision for the V Sports network, Aston Villa are pleased to confirm the appointment of Samba Diawara as the club’s new Assistant Manager, joining Yaya Touré’s coaching staff ahead of the next phase of our project.

The appointment follows the departure of Pablo Villa, who has accepted the opportunity to become Assistant Manager at Real Sociedad. Pablo played an important role during the early months of Yaya Touré’s tenure, helping to establish the foundations of a new footballing identity at Aston Villa. Everyone across the V Sports network would like to thank Pablo for his professionalism and contribution, and we wish him every success in Spain.

When Yaya Touré accepted the Aston Villa position, one of his priorities was to modernise and reshape the club’s backroom structure. However, he was equally determined that those changes would happen gradually rather than through wholesale disruption. Stability has been a key theme throughout the opening months of the project, allowing players and staff to adapt to new ideas while maintaining continuity on the training ground.

With the first phase of that transition now complete, the time was right to appoint an assistant capable of helping drive the next stage of Villa’s development.

Samba Diawara arrives with a coaching journey that perfectly reflects the qualities we value throughout the V Sports network. A former professional defender who represented clubs including Red Star, Troyes and Union Saint-Gilloise, Diawara has steadily built an impressive coaching résumé across Belgium and France.

His coaching career began as manager of RU Tubize-Braine, before moving to Sint-Truiden as a first-team coach. He later took charge of Union Saint-Gilloise, gaining invaluable experience as a head coach before continuing his development in senior coaching roles with Charleroi and Anderlecht. In 2022 he joined Stade de Reims as Assistant Manager, working in one of Europe’s most tactically demanding leagues and further enhancing his reputation as an outstanding coach and developer of players.

His appointment gives Aston Villa another coach with experience across multiple football cultures and a proven ability to improve individuals, particularly younger players making the transition into senior football.

For Yaya Touré, this is about far more than replacing an assistant. It is about adding another coach who shares the same philosophy that is being implemented across the V Sports network.

Technical excellence, intelligent positional play, relentless work ethic and player development remain at the heart of everything we are building. Diawara’s experience working with developing squads and his calm, detailed approach to coaching made him an outstanding candidate throughout the recruitment process.

His arrival also continues another important theme within the V Sports project: increasing African representation in leadership positions throughout our clubs. While appointments will always be made on merit, V Sports believes African coaches remain significantly underrepresented at the highest levels of European football despite producing exceptional footballing minds.

With Yaya Touré leading Aston Villa, Benni McCarthy guiding Vitória SC, Michel Essien managing Annecy, John Obi Mikel at GAIS and a growing number of African directors, scouts and recruitment specialists across the network, Samba Diawara becomes another important piece of that long-term vision.

As our recruitment model continues to identify and develop the best young African talent, it is equally important that those players are supported by coaches who understand different footballing cultures, have experienced multiple leagues, and can guide them through every stage of their development.

The appointment of Samba Diawara represents another step forward in building not only one of Europe’s strongest multi-club recruitment structures, but also one of its most diverse and forward-thinking coaching environments.

Everyone at V Sports and Aston Villa would like to welcome Samba Diawara to the club, and we look forward to seeing him play a key role alongside Yaya Touré as we continue building for the future.