Lassana Diarra is a French professional football player (also a citizen of Mali) who plays as a midfielder for the UAE (United Arab Emirates) club Al Jazeera. His predominant role on the pitch is as a defensive midfielder, however, the player is capable of playing as a right midfielder as he did during his time with the French national team.
During his career, Lassana Diarra played for such famous European clubs as Chelsea, Arsenal, Portsmouth and Real Madrid. The Frenchman also played in the Russian championship - he played for Anzhi Makhachkala and Lokomotiv Moscow.
Football player biography
Lassana Diarra was born on March 10, 1985 in Paris (France). He started his career in the youth club "Paris" (the main team plays in the third division of France) in 1999. Until 2004, he also played as part of such French youth clubs as Nantes, Le Mans andRed Star.
Starting a career at Le Havre
Professional career began in Le Havre in 2004. Here he received a T-shirt with the 21st number and quickly gained prestige among teammates and fans.
In the 2004/05 season, he played 29 matches for the "heavenly and dark blue", in which he made countless effective actions. Thanks to his phenomenal defensive ability in midfield, the Frenchman has become an object of interest for many high-ranking European clubs. One of these was the English Chelsea, here he was compared with Claude Makelele, who also played as a defensive midfielder. Chelsea scouts gave him the nickname "the new Makelele".
Chelsea career
In the 2005/06 season he joined the London club for 4.5 million euros. Chelsea scouts have found Lassana Diarra to be the perfect fit to replace aging player Claude Makelele. As part of the "pensioners" he made his debut in the Champions League match against Real Betis (4-0 victory). Despite the fact that at first in Chelsea Diarra did not receive enough playing experience, at the end of the 2005/06 season he was recognized as the best young player in the Premier League championship. It is noteworthy that in the framework of the FA Cup, Diarra made his debut in the match against Huddersfield Town, in which he replaced the same Claude Makelele.
It is worth noting that while playing matches for the Blues (and there were only 13 of them in two seasons), Lassana Diarra demonstrated his best football qualities, thanks to which he later became a star of European football.
However, despite a short spell at the London club, Diarra has won three trophies: the Football League Cup, the FA Cup and the Premier League title.
A season at Arsenal
On August 31, 2007, on the last day of the transfer, Lassana Diarra, who had one of the best records in Chelsea, signed an agreement with London's Arsenal. The deal amounted to three million euros. As part of the Gunners, he received a T-shirt with the game number 8, under which winger Frederik Ljunberg previously played. In an interview, Diarra said that one of the main reasons for moving to Arsenal is the coach Arsène Wenger, whom the player considers one of the best in Europe. He made his debut for the club in the Champions League against Sevilla. In total, he played 7 matches for the Gunners and after 5 months moved to Portsmouth (with which he won the 2008 FA Cup) for 7 million euros. The fact is that the Frenchman thought that he was given too little match practice, which would not be enough for him to be called up to the national team to participate in the European Championship 2008.
Career at Real Madrid
In January 2009, French midfielder Lassana Diarra became a "creamy" player for 20 million euros. On the number 8 jersey, he was named Lass.
Played with Galacticos until 2012. For three seasons in the Spanish club, he won the following trophies: Example, Super Cup andSpanish Cup. In total, he played 87 matches and scored one goal.
Career after leaving Real Madrid
After leaving the Madrid club, Lassana Diarra moved to Anji from the Premier League. Initially, the player was transferred on loan, but the Makhachkala team decided to buy out the full right to the player for 5 million euros. He spent only one season here, in which he played 18 matches in the Premier League and scored one goal.
In the 2013/14 season, he played for Lokomotiv Moscow, in which he played 17 matches and scored one goal.
From 2015 to 2017 played in the French "Marseille" from Ligue 1. As part of the "Provencals" he played 37 matches and recorded one goal in his statistics.
April 19, 2017 signed a contract with the Al Jazeera club from the UAE as a free agent.
