La Liga - Diarra unveiled at Real Madrid

Eurosport - Tue, 23 Dec 09:05:00 2008

Real Madrid have unveiled France international midfielder Lassana Diarra as their latest big-money signing.

FOOTBALL 2008-9 Real Madrid Lassana Diarra - 0

Real president Ramon Calderon hailed "an exceptional player" who had a "great future" ahead of him.

"It's an honour for me to be with Real Madrid," said Diarra, wearing a Real shirt emblazoned with the nickname "Lass".

The 23-year-old, who passed a medical on Monday, has signed a contract that will keep him with the club until 2013.

He joins the Spanish giants from Portsmouth for a reported fee of around £18 million.

Real have been on the lookout for a new midfielder since Mali international Mahamadou Diarra and Spain's Ruben de la Red were both sidelined earlier this month for the rest of the season.

Diarra is the club's second signing of the season after Dutch striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar moved from Ajax early this month.

The club has also brought back its midfielder Daniel Parejo, who was on loan to Championship side QPR.

Spanish champions Real have been plagued by injuries as well as poor form this season.

They sacked German coach Bernd Schuster earlier this month and replaced him with former Tottenham coach Juande Ramos but are still a huge 12 points behind league leaders and arch rivals Barcelona going into the winter break.

Meanwhile CSKA Moscow midfielder Milos Krasic is close to signing for the Spanish giants, according to reports in the Spanish daily Marca.

The paper did not indicate its source for the report on the 24-year-old Serbian international, who has been with CSKA since 2004.

TeamTalk / Reuters

Comment 40 - 59 of 59

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  1. this is a our season,BARCA CHAMPION MES QUE UN CLUB

    From nika K, on Tue 23 Dec 6:34PM

  2. OOPS A DIARRA BROKE A FOOT AND HEAR COMES ANOTHER THIS­ GUY IS GOING TO BRAKE NECK, WE ARE THE CHAMPS THIS­ SEASON UP BARCA.

    From wilson, on Tue 23 Dec 4:08PM

  3. ALL ENGLISH FOOTBALL
    PREMIER LEAGUE – FA CUP – CARLING­ CUP
    CHAMPIONS LEAGUE – UEFA CUP
    ALL MATCHES ON WEB: ­ PREMIER LEAGUE, LIGA, SERIE A, BUNDESLIGA AND CHAMPIONS­ LEAGUE - UEFA CUP
    ALL THE HIGH-LIGHTS OF PREMIER­ LEAGUE MATCHES

    From , on Tue 23 Dec 3:36PM

  4. good business for Portsmouth. well done :D

    From Yea-Joon, on Tue 23 Dec 8:41AM

  5. REAL MADRID BETTER THAN LIVERPOOL? IF YOU THHINK SO­ THUMBS UP BELOW.

    From Club, on Tue 23 Dec 7:35AM

  6. scaum and chavs didn't use him, pompey did well out­ of him - will be interesting to see how he develops

    From ispurs, on Tue 23 Dec 6:41AM

  7. I think now it is time to sack Calderon.......We need­ change a lot.....

    From bmb4_23, on Tue 23 Dec 1:46AM

  8. HMmmmmmm.....I'm sad about the signings of Real­ this year......Who is Krasic.....I thinkk this is the­ end of the galacticos....now....

    From bmb4_23, on Tue 23 Dec 1:43AM

  9. ha that looks strange to me

    From nezvedz, on Tue 23 Dec 12:22AM

  10. Diarra isnt a mediocre player if he was he wouldnt have­ been signed by Chelsea and Arsenal then by Harry­ Redknapp, he always had ability but could only get the­ first team action to progress at Portsmouth now hes­ playing consistently its only normal for a big club to­ take him.

    From zehst, on Tue 23 Dec 12:10AM

  11. apart from steven G n owen hargreaves no other english­ player is better than diarra. so stop ur @#$% comments­ u lots, i guess u lot whinge about lack of english­ players in big club why? cos they all averages. United­ til die lol

    From Michael, on Mon 22 Dec 10:46PM

  12. Norfolk Aprilia you got a good name. Stop getting­ furious about racism. You cant change someone's­ skin colour that quickly by either signing him or not.­ We cant blame someone for being black or not. We­ shouldn't hate a guy just cos he's got a black­ skin and a bright future. We should learn to do what is­ right and what's right is appreciating others,­ whether they'r spanish or not we should respect the­ club and their plans.
    Sorry, my guy.

    From Majoser, on Mon 22 Dec 10:20PM

  13. i'm sad lol :(

    From mikeborgars, on Mon 22 Dec 10:06PM

  14. good signing for real. Diarra will improve a lot there­ and will get more match time.

    From peterlalor, on Mon 22 Dec 10:04PM

  15. ITS not calderon who buys and sells players at real­ madrid, its sport director Pedja Mijatovic!!! And he­ should have been fired after total disaster in summer­ transfer window. And now I dont get. why would real pay­ 18 mill. for diarra, when they have Gago. I dont think­ that ramos would start both players in at the same­ time, it would be too defencive for madrid. And i­ certainly dont think that he would take gago place on­ the first team. Diarra is a good player dont get me­ wrong, but there is no need for him in madrid.

    From vitalydutchak1, on Mon 22 Dec 9:55PM

  16. Yo! That's that....what's is his shirt number?­ I can see how business is done, lesson one, buy­ quickly. Lesson two, buy cheaply.
    Lesson three,­ liverpool next.
    Good time my people.

    From Majoser, on Mon 22 Dec 9:55PM

  17. lol .................... diarra ......................­ lol £20m lol

    barca barca barca

    From emilio, on Mon 22 Dec 9:16PM

  18. kop4ee - u talk about black DMs at a mediocre­ club...sounds more like yaya toure or syndey keita at­ barcelona coz i can tell u now that both Diarras are­ better than them u racist...and no,we didnt want alonso­ coz he is cup tied ,!!!!!

    From gucci_nv, on Mon 22 Dec 8:18PM

  19. whats his colour got to do with it?

    i swear you­ spanish are the most racist people on the planet.

    From norfolk_aprilia, on Mon 22 Dec 7:43PM

  20. good luck for him he can improve more in real i'm­ sure of that

    From ceko0oo, on Mon 22 Dec 6:32PM
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