Player Update: Birahim Diop Is Still On the Roster, But On Personal Leave

You guys can relax now, you're favorite wide-grinning Senegalese midfielder Birahim Diop is still on Sporting KC's roster...just not here in town. A Sporting KC official told me today that the reason for Birahim's absence from basically preseason until now has been due to a personal leave - but we already knew that.

The thing I was confused about was why there hadn't been an official announcement from the club regarding the lanky central midfielder/forward's future with Sporting KC. I thought it would turn into a Daneil Cyrus situation where we were told that he was on personal leave, not given any information about his whereabouts for a very long time, and then seemingly out of the blue was waived by Sporting Kansas City. But now it is known that Diop is still very much a Sporting player, for the time being.

Speculation had been swirling around Diop's future at the club since the opening day of preseason at the Chiefs indoor training facility when he failed to make an appearance for entrance physicals. Most people had guessed he was looking for a place on Deportivo Pereira's squad under former Sporting KC assistant coach Octavio Zambrano who left at the end of November last year. The Ecuadorian had brought Diop to the New York Metro Stars in 2001, Tiligul-Tiras Tiraspol from 2006-2008 and then of course Kansas City in 2010, where Diop has been ever since, netting 5 goals in 32 league appearances for Sporting KC.

All speculation aside though Diop is most likely in Senegal with his family working out issues there and the 33 year old might just be considering retirement.

This is an update - as clearly indicated in the title - treat it as so. I'm not breaking any real news here, just updating fans on his situation.