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At first, Papé Diakité was not sure about coming to Canada to play soccer with FC Edmonton.

The Senegalese under-20 international defender did not associate The Beautiful Game with The Great White North.

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“To be honest, when they ask me and I didn’t want to come,” Diakité said following practice Friday. “I had other offers in Romania and Bulgaria and I didn’t want to come to Canada, because I didn’t think there was soccer over here. It was never my dream to come here to play, but you never know what is going to happen. I thought I would try it and see, and so far, it’s going well.”

Diakité, 23, spent the previous two years in Belgium with Royal Antwerp. He was brought to the attention of FC Edmonton head coach Colin Miller and signed to play in the heart of their defence.

Diakité has played every minute of every match so far this season.

“It took him a little while to settle in, and he’s still settling in,” Miller said. “But both him and Albert (Watson) have struck up a very good partnership in the middle and I’m pleased with how he’s playing at the moment. He’s definitely buying in to how I want things done.”