Lassana Diarra

Lassana Diarra is French football player of Malian descent who currently features for Spanish and European giants Real Madrid. He is a defensive midfielder but can also play at right back.

Lassana Diarra suffered rejections in his younger days at FC Nantes and Le Mans but made his breakthrough at Le Havre. He started his career there in 2003 and after two heavily impressive seasons in French Ligue 1, he was signed by Premier League giants Chelsea for 1 million pounds.

Diarra was at Chelsea for two seasons from 2005 to 2007 but never managed to break into the first team although he did feature in several matches for the Blues as a right back in the 2006-2007 season and was named as the best young player at Chelsea in the 2005-2006 season.

Diarra was signed by Arsenal in the summer of 2007 but failed to play regularly in the 2007-2008 season and was signed by Portsmouth in January 2008 and was a huge hit at Fratton Park.

Diarra joined Real Madrid in January 2009 and his stellar performances in defensive midfield for Blancos in the second half of the 2009-10 campaign made him a fan favourite.

Diarra made his international debut for France in 2007 and has been capped 28 times for his nation. He was part of the French squad for Euro 2008.