Almost without fail, Diego Carlos would take his top off.
At half-time and again after the final whistle, no matter the weather conditions or the score, Diego Carlos would walk down the tunnel bare-chested. Sometimes his shirt was slung over his shoulder, on other occasions he would hand it to a nearby fan.
In doing either, the Brazilian centre-back revealed a strapping physique. Muscles popping, bound and sculpted, resembling a mixed martial arts fighter. Ironic attempts at wit from those nearby invariably followed: ‘Bloody hell, Diego’s put on some timber!’
Diego Carlos the Adonis and Diego Carlos the defender, who has now left Aston Villa for Turkey’s Fenerbahce, were contrasts.
The former was physically imposing and supremely confident. The other was wildly erratic and, all too frequently during his two and a half seasons in England, physically fragile. His brawn did not correlate with a ranking in the bottom seven per cent of defenders from Europe’s top five leagues for aerial duels won and in the bottom one per cent for tackles won.
On the wrong side of 30 and permanently on the border of manager Unai Emery’s preferred XI, Villa had been open to selling Diego Carlos for the best part of a year. He made 38 appearances across all competitions last season yet was largely regarded as a stand-in while Tyrone Mings was recovering from injury or whenever Emery wanted to shift Ezri Konsa across to right-back.
A multitude of factors contributed to his diminishing reputation as he regressed from then manager Steven Gerrard’s marquee signing in summer 2022 to being a lightning rod for criticism.
Truthfully, Diego Carlos was a curious contradiction.
The eye-test did not always match the evidence. The opposite was equally accurate.
As the footballing maxim goes, Diego Carlos often played to the level of the opponent.
The stiffer the challenge, the more he grew in stature. Two man-of-the-match performances in Villa’s victories against Arsenal last season characterised the theory; at his best, he would punch passes through midfield or hit excellent diagonals over the opposition’s back line for his left-back to run on to.
Unfortunately, the other side of his game led to his downfall.
A sloppiness permeated his play, unbefitting of an experienced professional who won the 2019-20 Europa League with Sevilla and Olympic gold a year later. There was a repetitiveness to his errors, getting suckered into high areas by opposition forwards or passing loosely into the middle of the pitch.
He was vulnerable physically and tactically, susceptible to both injuries and mobile strikers.
Perhaps there should be regret that Diego Carlos could not — through form, circumstance or misfortune — replicate his Sevilla days. Back then, he was a colossus in central defence — well-rounded and reliable.
His time in England was defined, unmistakably, by the unfortunate events of his second Villa game, his first at home. The ruptured Achilles tendon he suffered jumping for the ball with Everton’s Salomon Rondon burst the balloon of optimism around his £26million arrival.
Sporting director Johan Lange and his scouts spent significant time in Spain watching him play for Sevilla. They were disciplined and compact under Julen Lopetegui, with Diego Carlos their key organiser. His leadership qualities appealed to Gerrard, and his debut on the opening day of that 2022-23 season, against Bournemouth, signalled an attempted shifting of the guard at Villa, with fellow centre-back Mings stripped of the captaincy and dropped.
Diego Carlos was injured in his home Villa debut (Geoff Caddick/AFP via Getty Images)
Notably, Diego Carlos had played on the left of central defence that day, with Konsa in his customary position. The newcomer had been a right-footer playing left centre-back at Sevilla, adept in spraying crossfield passes and taking his first touch inside the pitch, opening up passing lanes centrally. This changed with Villa, especially under Emery, who prefers centre-backs playing on the side of their stronger foot.
He would miss 213 days, a period he admitted was “the worst injury of his career”. In the six seasons before joining Villa, Diego Carlos had sustained 14 separate injuries, keeping him out for a combined 149 days.
His fitness record became patchy and showed diminishing returns as he became less robust and more susceptible to knocks. In almost two years after returning to action in May 2023, Diego Carlos had eight further injuries.
The last of these was a “small injury”, according to Emery. The vagaries as to the diagnosis were telling, as is often the case when transfer negotiations are happening. A few hours after Emery’s words were published, they had reached the player, who, on Instagram, dismissed the notion there was anything wrong with him. Throughout his absence with this “small injury”, an exit strategy was being drawn up.
Istanbul’s Fenerbahce proved the most likely destination. He had said his goodbyes to Villa staff and team-mates more than a week before an agreement was eventually reached, with an initial proposal’s valuation being below what Monchi, president of football operations, had set out.
Diego Carlos returned to Villa’s Bodymoor Heath complex and was stuck in a holding pattern until Fenerbahce returned to the table. Early this week, a deal worth €10million (£8.4m/$10.5m) was struck to draw a line under an uncertainty that lasted for more than half a year.
It was not a coincidence Emery had also insisted the player had a “small injury” in August, when he was in discussions to join fellow Premier League side Fulham. No move materialised then, obviously, despite his representatives scouring the market.
Villa intend to seek a replacement but have hit a stumbling block in their pursuit of Loic Bade, also from Sevilla. Negotiations are at an impasse, with the 24-year-old Frenchman harbouring reservations over the amount of game time he’ll get.
Diego Carlos had the raw materials and pedigree when he signed. Undeniably, though, his time at Villa was punctuated by extreme highs and lows, with his first, and worst, injury leaving lingering regret.
(Top photo: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
