Mahamadou Diarra: £10M Real Madrid Enforcer Perfect for Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs or Everton

A number of Premier League clubs are scouring the market for defensive midfielders this summer and will be alerted to the news that one of the best around has been made available at Real Madrid. That player is Real Madrid’s Mali international Mahamadou Diarra.

The 6 ft man mountain missed the second half of last season due to a serious injury that has kept him out of action for 7 months. He has recently returned to fitness but is likely to be sold after the huge spending spree Real Madrid have embarked on. Diarra was de-registered from the Real Madrid first team last season and his number six was given to January signing namesake Lassana Diarra. Real also have Fernando Gago and Javi Garcia to play the defensive midfield role suggesting they are willing to offload Diarra this summer.

Diarra would be the perfect acquisition for Arsenal to perform the anchorman role next to Cesc Fabregas as he would give the midfield a strong physical presence they have lacked since the departure of Gilberto Silva. The Malian is of a similar stature and size to Barcelona’s Yaya Toure who has been a long-term Gunners target so would surely be of interest to Arsene Wenger now his primary target Felipe Melo is about to sign for Juventus.

Liverpool may be on the lookout for a defensive midfield man with Javier Mascherano linked with a move to Barcelona. Real Madrid are also attempting to sign want-away Xabi Alonso so Diarra would be an excellent makeweight if the Spaniard was to depart.

Everton and Tottenham are also looking to add power to their midfields and the signing of Diarra would be a huge statement of intent. Juventus were thought to be leading the chase for the 28-year-old but have since turned their attention to Gunners target Melo leaving the way open for English clubs to make an approach. Diarra recently told Skysports.com, “I am feeling very well at the moment and I hope to come back even stronger next season.”

“Real are recruiting a lot of big stars at the moment and I am looking forward to the next campaign.

“We will have to wait and see what the new officials at Real have planned.”

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Diarra established his football reputation in Greece when he played for OFI Crete in the last 1990’s. However, after just 21 league appearances he moved to Holland and played for Vitesse. He spent three seasons with the Dutch club making 69 league appearances while scoring 9 goals. In this time he was sent off a total of 5 times earning a reputation for poor temperament.

In the summer of 2002 Diarra moved to Lyon where he established his reputation as one of the finest defensive midfielders in world football. In four seasons in France, he won a total of four league championships and four Trophee Des Champions (the equivalent of the Community Shield). He made 121 league appearances and was part of the Lyon team that reached the Champions League quarter-finals in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

The Mali international moved to Real Madrid in August 2006 for 26 million euros. He played a key role in the club’s title successes in 2007 and 2008 but was heavily criticised in his first season for picking up 12 bookings in 33 league appearances. He was a mainstay of Fabio Capello’s side but had a disastrous 2008/09 season following a serious knee injury in Mali’s World Cup qualifier v Chad last October. Diarra returned to Madrid making a further 5 appearances before being forced to have an operation to rectify the condition of his knee.

Diarra has won over 50 caps for Mali and captained the side before his injury.

Would you like to make a move for Diarra who is reported valued at £10m and is physically more suited to English football than the more technical style of Spain? Let’s hear your views.

Tags: Arsenal, Everton, Liverpool, Lyon, Mahamadou Diarra, Mali, Real Madrid, Tottenham

This entry was posted on Friday, July 10th, 2009 at 14:54 and is filed under Features, Home Features, Transfer News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.