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 20 - 39 of 59

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  1. Don't worry when Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester­ United, and Arsenal come. Because We have 18 million!!!­ LOL

    From hapsi1990, on Mon 22 Dec 5:53PM

  2. He is Diarra 2. xD

    From hapsi1990, on Mon 22 Dec 5:50PM

  3. i wish diara best of luck

    From Oyewumi, on Mon 22 Dec 5:37PM

  4. where would u play ??? Portsmouth or Real Madrid ITS­ A LOT OF MONEY BUT GOOD LUCK 2 HIM .........

    From billiebdj, on Mon 22 Dec 5:27PM

  5. Really its Chelseas lost he is a very good footballer­ but at the end of the day Portsmouth get £18­ million...
    But u can buy players now ???? i was­ thinking it was in january?

    From billiebdj, on Mon 22 Dec 5:19PM

  6. Dark.Soul,
    There is a different system in Spain. So if­ someone is injured long term like De La Red or Van­ Nisteloory, they can sign players but they only get to­ actually play or be included in the squad until the­ official transfer window opens in January.

    I think the­ signing is great for Real Madrid, but i still dont­ understand why Arsenal sold him when they needed him­ the most.
    Arsenal till I Die.

    From cilunga2007, on Mon 22 Dec 5:16PM

  7. pitty,biggest mistake by wenger,he shouldnt sold­ hem,they got new makalele

    From crnjakjurica, on Mon 22 Dec 4:56PM

  8. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Diarra both got signed but i­ thought the trasnfer window opens in january?

    From Dark.Soul, on Mon 22 Dec 4:27PM

  9. They said Real paid to much for Gago and Pepe but we­ have seen both of them worth every penny. Madrid needed­ a player like Diarra. All the best to him, im sure­ he'd do well and prove he's worth that money..­ My only concern... when other diarra, ruddd, de la­ red, are fit hmmmmmmm, the coach will have headaches

    From JEFF A, on Mon 22 Dec 4:04PM

  10. The whole Diarra transfer happened so fast, although­ Portsmouth milked out more money than they­ should've gotten. He's a great player, but not­ worth 20 mil. Correct me if I'm wrong, but­ didn't Inter pay less that that for Muntari, who­ happens to be better than Diarra?

    From aleksicn93, on Mon 22 Dec 4:03PM

  11. Ben you must be from Greet!

    From jagatsuk, on Mon 22 Dec 4:02PM

  12. grt

    From ben.woolnough, on Mon 22 Dec 3:57PM

  13. Garagehead: How can you assume dazmanutd is from­ Manchester? With himself proclaiming to be Utd fan, it­ would be easier to believe his origins were somewhere­ obscure and insignificant like Bury St Edmonds and not­ Manchester! So don't come to the conclusion that­ people from Manchester don't have full command of­ the English language! Seeing as you've nit-picked­ the content of his post, I'd like to advise you­ that your English isn't 100%. Instead of saying­ "most of the rest of the country" I would of­ said "the majority of the nation", that makes­ more sense!

    From Stephen, on Mon 22 Dec 3:46PM

  14. What about the transfer window, does it not count?

    From Robert, on Mon 22 Dec 3:29PM

  15. No you don't! but keep your hair on..

    From jagatsuk, on Mon 22 Dec 3:27PM

  16. We DO speak proper English in Manchester you @#$%.

    From sue.theodossiadis, on Mon 22 Dec 3:12PM

  17. dazmanutd - congratulations on the worst grammatical­ post I have ever seen. Have you never heard of Capital­ Letters, commas or full stops? Maybe that's how you­ talk in Manchester but most of the rest of the country­ speak English. You should try it sometime.

    From Garagehead, on Mon 22 Dec 3:04PM

  18. ..In and around Pompey, we hard that Diarra's price­ was more like around £21.5 Million pounds - which­ Pompey well needed by all accounts, but then several­ prem clubs R up 4 sale now, including West Ham and­ Tottenum. Shame 2 lose him , but good luck 2 Diarra.­ Let's hope Tony Adams will really strengthen his­ Blue Army, including a new Assistant Manager to add 2­ the back room team.........
    PompeyTone.

    From Tony H, on Mon 22 Dec 3:01PM

  19. D.W - spot on. He only wants to play 1st team­ football...

    which is what he will probably get this­ season...but he wont be next season, when the others­ are potentially fit....maybe then he will move­ again?

    Still - everyones a winner and Pompey need the­ cash by all accounts.

    From SIMON, on Mon 22 Dec 3:01PM

  20. I think the critism of Diara is harsh. He moved from­ Chelsea to get first team football at Arsenal. He then­ didn't get first team football at Arsenal so he­ moved to Portsmouth. At Portsmouth he was honest about­ the fact that he had no long term ambition to stay at­ the club and was just wanting to play regularly again.­

    Real offered 20 Million (or there abouts) and thats a­ good return for Pompey and a good club for Diara.­ Everyone is a winner for me. Diarra is ambitious and­ will go onto great things.

    From DW, on Mon 22 Dec 2:46PM
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