Diarra will join Real Madrid.

The signing of Mahamadou Diarra has provoked mixed feelings at Real Madrid.

On Saturday morning the Madrid newspapers announced that Real had signed Diarra from Olympique Lyon for 26 million euros, after the midfielder had threatened to return to his native Mali unless he was allowed to join the Spanish giants.

Coach Fabio Capello is delighted with the signing, as well he might be given that Diarra has been top of his shopping list for the past month.

'He is a strong player who is going to give us many things', Capello told Marca early on Saturday.

'Diarra is young and ambitious,' Capello added, 'just the kind of player we need for the future.'

Club captain Raul Gonzalez is quoted as saying that 'Diarra will give us more strength in midfield.'

Diarra is Real's fourth signing this summer, after veterans Fabio Cannavaro, Emerson and Ruud Van Nistolrooy.

The Real fans, however, are not as delighted as Capello and Raul with the Diarra signing.

An online poll in AS on Saturday shows that only 43 per cent of fans believe that 'Diarra is an important signing,, whilst no less than 67 per cent 'would have preferred Kaka to Diarra.'

It is clear to most fans that the signing of Diarra has removed whatever lingering possibility there remained of signing Kaka.

Real president Ramon Calderon promised to sign Kaka - along with Cesc Fabregas and Arjen Robben - during his election campaign in July.

Instead, he then brought in Capello and allowed the Italian to decide the signings, a policy which has already undermined Calderon's popularity.

Most SMS messages sent into Marca on Saturday are critical of the Diarra signing, claiming that the price is too high for a workmanlike rather than brilliant midfielder.

Several messages point out that Diarra is the archetypal Capello player - disciplined, ordered, hard-working - for good or bad.

Marca and AS are trying to be positive about Diarra, but realize he is not the kind of signing to sell season tickets - or newspapers.

El Pais is more critical of the Diarra deal, claiming that it is another example of Real encouraging a player, against FIFA rules, to rebel against his club 'in order to bring down the price.'

'This kind of manoeuvre,' says the prestigious daily, 'can only damage the image of Real Madrid across the world.'

As a way of supporting its claim, El Pais alleges that Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is 'really annoyed' with the way that Real are trying to poach striker Jose Antenio Rayes , encouraging the player to push for a move to Madrid.

Reyes is Real's next priority, a signing that would be more popular with the fans than that of Diarra.