Lassana Diarra didn’t fly with Chelsea to Brondby
636 comments July 31st, 2007
When Abou Diaby signed for Arsenal, he made no secret of that fact he had turned down Chelsea to do so. Many pundits were surprised that Jose Mourinho was interested in introducing the powerful Frenchman to a squad already packed with International midfielders. But Mourinho, whatever you may think of him, is no fool, and in Diaby he saw 50% of France’s future midfield partnership.
Diaby’s career has already been paralleled with that of current France captain, Patrick Vieira: a significant compliment. But behind every great player is a man who gives him the platform on which to perform his heroics. These figures are often the less heralded of the pair – Adams had his Bould, Wright and Henry had Bergkamp, and when at Arsenal, Vieira had Emmanuel Petit and then Gilberto Silva. And with France, he had perhaps the greatest exponent of this art alongside him: Claude Makelele.
Lassana Diarra is essentially Makelele Mk II. Both Diarra and Diaby received their first call-ups to the senior France squad towards the end of last season, and manager Domenech has been fairly unequivocal about his hopes for the youngsters to replace the great pair of Vieira and Makelele. It was this potential partnership that was in Mourinho’s mind when he moved for Diaby. And it might be the same idea that is leading Arsene Wenger to reignite his interest in a player he first pursued more than two years ago.
Diarra is a quality player. Last season he excelled for Chelsea in midfield and at right-back. My brother is a season ticket holder, and often he would report that Diarra had been the best player on the pitch. He’s a neat passer with a tremendous engine and surprisingly tough tackling for one so small.
What is odd about this transfer is that Diarra plays primarily in positions that we are already well covered in. We’ve got so many right-backs and central midfielders that we’ve started playing them on the wing. Perhaps in Diarra Wenger sees a genuine holding midfield player – a back-up for Gilberto that currently we don’t quite have.
It may just be that he doesn’t want to miss out on an opportunity to sign an International class player for a fee of around £2m. Diarra’s contract expires next summer, so his market value is at an all time bargain low.
Or, of course, it could just be meaningless media talk. But I can tell you for a fact that Diarra was last night a late withdrawal from the Chelsea squad that travelled to Brondby. Still, it’s hard to get too excited in a Summer where we’ve been duped by misleading transfer stories again and again. Let’s wait and see.
One transfer saga that has finally been wrapped up is that of Jose Reyes. It’s been a long goodbye, except instead of blowing kisses we’ve mostly been flipping the finger at a player who has agitated for a permanent move back to the Spanish capital for nearly two years now. After he threatened to scream and scream until he was sick, he finally got his way, and he’s now an Atletico player. I expect we’ll never quite know what the fee was, but you can be sure we made a loss on a player who seemed to give up on a career in England the first time the sun disappeared behind a cloud.
Arsenal.com are great value. Yesterday they published a story saying Kieran Gibbs had joined Southend, only to be later change the story to feature Kerrea Gilbert.  Well, it is indeed Gilbert who has gone on a six month loan. Part of me would be surprised if we saw the 20-year old in an Arsenal shirt again, though the length of the deal allows room for Gilbert to return when Toure and Eboue head to the African Nations Cup.
That’s all for now. Our transfer profit for this Summer is now in the £10-15m bracket. Let’s hope it’s not by the end of the month.
