Inter To Go For Diarra?

To strengthen their midfield the Nerazzurri have put their eyes on Real Madrid player Mahamadou Diarra.

For the moment it's only an interesting idea, but the coming summer Mahamadou Diarra may become one of the most recurrent names in the Nerazzurri offices. The transfer gurus of Inter are monitoring the Mali midfielder's situation, whose feeling with Real is becoming feeble although last summer Fabio Capello pushed for his purchase from Lyon. Will the fracture be recomposed or is it the beginning of a separation in June, after only one season? We will see. As they expect news, however, technical director Branca and market consultant Oriali have already put the African player's name on their shopping list.

The reason for the great cold between the player and Real occurred last 17 December, a few minutes before the start of the match against Espanyol. Diarra was recorded by Canal Plus while he was talking with Cassano and Ronaldo about Capello. Cassano blatantly imitated the Italian coach and criticised his rotation system, with Diarra, a good friend of Cassano, agreeing while Ronaldo did not say anything negative. The consequence was that Cassano and Diarra were left out of the squad for the home game against Recreativo Huelva, which was lost 3-0. At today's training session Diarra was present as normal, but the decisive moment will come on 7 January in the game against Deportivo. Will he be on the pitch again or will Capello continue punishing him?

Diarra and Reyes injured.

Diarra and Reyes injured.

Diarra with stitched cheek-bone; Reyes with strained right groin muscle.

The Mali player was savagely elbowed on the cheek-bone and needed stitching-up, while the Sevillian player was benched in the second half with a strain on the ligament of his right groin adductor muscle. Tomorrow, the Club's medical staff will evaluate the latter's injury.

Raul clashes with Diarra at Real Madrid training.

Raul clashed with Mahamadou Diarra at Real Madrid training yesterday.

The Mali international clattered into Antonio Cassano during a bounce game and later also battered Raul, which sparked a furious reaction from the club captain.

Raul turned on Diarra, but the big African shrugged him off. It took coach Fabio Capello and Emerson to calm the tense stand-off.

However, at the end of the session, Diarra and Raul were spotted laughing and joking.

DIARRA HEADER ENOUGH FOR MADRID.

Real Madrid claimed their third win of the Primera Liga season on Saturday with a narrow 1-0 victory at Real Betis.

In a game of few decent goalscoring opportunities, Mahamadou Diarra's header after seven minutes settled the contest in favour of Fabio Capello's men.

The win lifts Madrid to the top of the standings ahead of Sunday's clashes, while defeat ends a miserable week for Betis which began with a derby loss to Sevilla.

Profile-Mahamadou Diarra

Full name	Mahamadou Diarra
Date of birth	May 18, 1981
Place of birth	Bamako, Mali
Height	1,83 m
Position	Defensive Midfield

A talented midfielder, he has played for his current team Olympique Lyonnais since 2002, winning three national league titles. He had previously been with Dutch side Vitesse Arnhem and Greek side OFI Crete. Diarra has played several international matches for Mali.

Diarra has been compared to top european Midfielders like Patrick Vieira and Claude Makelele. Many people who have worked with him including Dutch Football Legend Ronald Koeman feels that Diarra has the potential but that he needs to learn how to control his strong temperament.

On August the 18th Real Madrid has reached an agreement with Lyon for Diarra for about 26 million Euro. A deal with the player himself is still pending. This has been confirmed by the Lyon homepage, and the Real Madrid president, Ramón Calderón, at a radio show in Spain[1].

Playing career

• -/1998 : CSK Bamako (?/?)
• 1998/1999 : OFI Crete (21/2)
• 1999/2000 : Vitesse Arnhem (16/2)
• 2000/2001 : Vitesse Arnhem (29/4)
• 2001/2002 : Vitesse Arnhem (24/3)
• 2002/2003 : Olympique Lyonnais (France) (28/1)
• 2003/2004 : Olympique Lyonnais (France) (27/1)
• 2004/2005 : Olympique Lyonnais (France) (33/2)
• 2005/2006 : Olympique Lyonnais (France) (31/3)
• 2006/2007 : Olympique Lyonnais (France) (2/0)
• 2006- currently: Real Madrid Spain

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Honours

• French Ligue 1 championship in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 with Olympique Lyonnais.
• Trophée Des Champions in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 with Olympique Lyonnais.
• FIFA World Youth Championship 3rd place in 1999 with Mali under-20 team

REAL CONFIRM DIARRA DEAL

Real Madrid have confirmed they have agreed a deal to sign Mali midfielder Mahamadou Diarra from Lyon, subject to a medical.

No fee has been confirmed, but it has been reported Real will pay in the region of 25 million euros (just over �17million) for the player, who joined Lyon from Vitesse Arnhem in 2002 and has made over 200 appearances for the club, helping Les Gones win four of their five consecutive Ligue 1 titles.

A statement on Real Madrid's official club website read: "Real Madrid would like to announce the agreement reached with Olympique Lyonnais and Mahamadou Diarra for the transfer of the player.

"Diarra will have his medical exam and be officially presented to the media in the upcoming days."

Real president Ramon Calderon expects more players to join the club this summer after completing the Diarra deal.

"It's who the coach asked for," Calderon said of Diarra.

"We are happy we could provide (coach Fabio) Capello with Diarra because the coach considers him essential to the team. Signing Diarra was a main priority for Capello."

He added on Real Madrid's official website: "I think we'll make Madridistas happy with some more good news, and (club sports director Predrag) Mijatovic is trying to reach agreements with some players. The squad should be complete in about one week, but hopefully we'll have more good news before then."

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.