Ousmane Diabaté stepped into Guinea’s starting line-up as Newcastle United’s on-loan midfielder helped his country beat Kenya 1-0 on Thursday.
Serhou Guirassy scored the winner in the 32nd minute at the Stade du 28 Septembre in Conakry, with Foot Mercato’s match record confirming Diabaté’s place in the XI.
The Mag reports that the teenager completed the full 90 minutes. He had come on at half-time during Guinea’s 2-1 defeat to South Africa on Saturday.
The result gave Guinea their first three points of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign.
Ousmane Diabaté builds experience away from Newcastle
Newcastle confirmed Diabaté’s signing from Gençlerbirliği on 4 September, with the midfielder returning to the Turkish club on loan for the 2026/27 season.
He had moved to Turkey in December 2025 after developing at Académie SOAR in Guinea. Newcastle’s signing announcement recorded seven senior appearances across the Süper Lig and Turkish Cup before his transfer.
Diabaté had also made his senior international debut against Northern Ireland at Windsor Park in June.
For Newcastle, the encouraging development is his increased involvement across these two qualifiers. Moving from a substitute appearance against South Africa into the starting side against Kenya gives him further experience of competitive international football.
That complements the senior club football available during his loan, as Newcastle assess his longer-term development.
Our Newcastle international tracker follows the club’s players and loanees throughout the break.
