Lassana Diarra

Lassana Diarra (born 10 March 1985) is a French former professional footballer.

His predominant position was as a defensive midfielder but he could also play in a more advanced role and has played at right back, which he occasionally has done for the France national football team.

Diarra was spotted by Gwyn Williams playing for France in the 2005 Toulon Tournament and initially came on trial, before the club paid £1 million for his services in July 2005.

Diarra was in Chelsea's first team squad in the 2005–06 season, but did not see much first-team football.

His Chelsea debut came in the UEFA 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.

Learning from Claude Makélélé he played well against Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup third round, winning rave reviews from both managers, teammates, and media sources.

This meant Diarra ended the season with three league appearances as Chelsea won the 2005–06 FA Premier League.

Diarra was named Chelsea's Young Player of the Season for 2005–06.

He made his league debut when he came on as a substitute for Makélélé on 5 February 2006 in a 2–0 win over Liverpool.

He became a bit part player in Chelsea's first team and also completed the full 90 minutes in Chelsea's last two games of the season at Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United respectively, as manager José Mourinho rotated his squad.

Due to Chelsea's defensive injury setbacks during the 2006–07 season, he was often asked to play at right back.

He played full Premier League games against Blackburn, Charlton Athletic and Middlesbrough, with some success.

He also started in Chelsea's win over Arsenal in the League Cup Final at the Millennium Stadium.

He was an unused substitute as Chelsea won the 2007 FA Cup Final against Manchester United.

On 29 July, reports surfaced suggesting he could be on his way to Arsenal in pursuit of first-team football.

Despite this, he came on as a substitute for Chelsea in the 2007 FA Community Shield.

His contract with Chelsea was due to expire in January 2008, and having made no move to extend it, Chelsea sold him to Arsenal on 31 August 2007, before he could leave on a free transfer.

On 31 August 2007, transfer deadline day, he signed for Arsenal for an undisclosed fee.

He was given the number 8 shirt, vacated by the departure of winger Freddie Ljungberg.

On his move across London, he cited Gunners manager Arsène Wenger as one of the main reasons for joining the club, along with the style of football played by Arsenal.

Wenger had called the young Frenchman a "multi-functional player", and a good addition to the squad.

Diarra made his Arsenal debut as a late substitute in the home leg of the 2007–08 Champions League group stage match against Sevilla, and his full debut against Newcastle United in the third round of the League Cup.

He then started his first Premier League match for Arsenal against Wigan Athletic on 24 November 2007.

With the emergence of defensive midfielder Mathieu Flamini in the Arsenal side, Diarra saw only limited action in the early months of the season.

Having expressed concerns that he was not playing enough first team football, Diarra signed for Portsmouth in January 2008 after only five months at Arsenal for an undisclosed fee believed to be around £5.5 million.

Diarra signed for Portsmouth on 17 January 2008.

He was given his first start against Derby County, contributing to a 3–1 win at Fratton Park.

He scored his first goal for the club in the following match, against FA Cup Fourth Round Championship opponents Plymouth Argyle, and his first Premier League goal two weeks later, a controversial late winner against Bolton Wanderers.

Diarra went on to play in every minute of Portsmouth's remaining FA Cup matches en route to claiming the trophy in the final.

He topped the season by being included in the France squad for UEFA Euro 2008; this and the FA Cup win arguably vindicated his decision to part company with Arsenal, Diarra himself saying that it had "more than justified my decision."

He played in the 2008 Community Shield against Manchester United, missing in the penalty shootout, which was won by United.

On 18 September 2008, he scored Pompey's first-ever goal in a major European competition against Vitória de Guimarães, his third and final goal for the club.

Diarra has, in his club footballing career, featured for Chelsea, Arsenal, Portsmouth, Real Madrid and most recently Paris Saint-Germain before retiring on 21 February 2019.

The Frenchman has also played for Russian clubs Anzhi Makhachkala and Lokomotiv Moscow.

Born in Paris to Malian parents, Diarra began playing football at the sports center on Rue Julien-Lacroix in Belleville, the district in which he grew up in the 20th arrondissement of Paris.

After having started his youth club career at Paris FC, Diarra was turned down by multiple football clubs as a youngster; Nantes deemed him too "small and lightweight" to succeed at 170 cm and 58 kg (5'7" and 9 stone). He admitted he thought his "football career was over." His next stop was Le Mans UC, where Diarra claimed they "didn't seem to care" about him. He would also play shortly for Red Star 93 from the Paris-suburb of Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine.

Diarra's footballing career began at Le Havre, a former French top-flight football team.

Outstanding in his defensive midfield role, his reputation started to grow and impressive performances saw his selection to the French under-21 squad.

Along with the reputation came interest from other clubs, and Chelsea became potential suitors.

With Chelsea's Claude Makélélé getting older, Chelsea's scouts tagged Diarra as the "new Makélélé".