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Lassana Diarra
Lassana
Diarra (born March 10, 1985 in Paris, France) is a French footballer of
Malian descent, who plays for English Premier League club Arsenal. His
predominant position is that of a defensive midfielder and can also
play at right back. On August 31, 2007 with minutes left before the
transfer window closed Arsenal announced they had reached an agreement
with Chelsea for the player. He will wear the number 8 shirt.
Early Career Diarra suffered rejection many times as a youngster. The first at Nantes, where he was deemed too "small and lightweight" at 5'8" and 9 stone to succeed. Diarra admitted to thinking he thought his "football career was over". His next stop was Le Mans, where Diarra claimed they "didn't seem to care" about him. The Ligue 2 side then refused to supply the letter confirming his exit from the club, meaning Diarra would be helpless for 18 months. It has also been said that Diarra faced a string of rejections that had initially made him return to school at the age of 16. Le Havre Diarra started his career at Le Havre, a French football team currently playing in the Second Division. A standout in his defensive midfield role, his reputation started to grow, and impressive performances saw his selection to the French U-21 squad. Along with the reputation came club interest, and Chelsea became potential suitors. With Claude Makélélé getting ever older, Chelsea's wide network of scouts tagged Diarra as the 'new' Makélélé and promptly paid €4m for his services in July 2005. Chelsea He immediately became a member of Chelsea's first team squad for 2005-06, but did not get much first team football. His Chelsea debut came in the Champions League in October 2005, when he was given a brief run out as a substitute when Chelsea were 4-0 up against Real Betis. However, he was not expected nor was he expecting to come straight into the side. Learning behind a master of his position, he has improved throughout the season, showing impressively when playing for the reserve team. He impressed against Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup third round, winning rave reviews from both managers, teammates, and media sources. Diarra also completed the full 90 minutes in Chelsea's last two games of the season at Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United, as manager José Mourinho rotated his squad. Diarra was named Chelsea's young player of the season for the season of 2005-06. Due to Chelsea's defensive injury setbacks during the 2006-07 season, he was often asked to play at right-back. He played full Premiership games against Blackburn Rovers, Charlton Athletic and Middlesbrough, with some success, and also played in Chelsea's win over in Arsenal in the League Cup Final at the Millennium Stadium. On July 29 reports surfaced suggesting he could be on his way to Arsenal in pursuit of first-team football. His contract with Chelsea was due to expire in January 2008, and having made no move to extend it he was sold to Arsenal on 31st August 2007, before he could leave on a free transfer. Arsenal On transfer deadline day August 31, 2007, Diarra completed a move to Arsenal FC. He will wear the number 8 shirt, vacated by the departure of Fredrik Ljungberg. On his move across London, he cited Gunners manager Arsene Wenger as one of the main reasons for joining the club, and the style of football his Arsenal team play. International Diarra has been capped eight times for the France U21s. Perhaps his most notable performance came in a UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualifying match against England in November 2005. With the game deep into stoppage time and seemingly destined for extra time (the aggregate score was 2-2), Diarra received the ball in the England penalty area. A challenge from Manchester United's Kieran Richardson saw Diarra go down, and a penalty was given. Diarra received much abuse, notably from club colleague Carlton Cole,[citation needed] but Jimmy Briand scored the penalty and France qualified. Diarra was selected for the France national football team by coach Raymond Domenech to play a 2008 Euro qualifier away to Lithuania on March 24, 2007 in which he started alongside Claude Makelele and Jeremy Toulalan and played the whole game with an excellent performance. He was also selected for an friendly match against Austria on March 28, 2007. Honours * Football League Cup: 2007 * FA Cup: 2007 * Community Shield: Runner-up 2006 |
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