Diarra - from Lyon to Real Madrid, via Manchester United?
After reading rumours that Real Madrid were finally about to make their move for Diarra, I started thinking back to April and May of this year when Diarra was still considered a transfer target for Manchester United.
The fact that Manchester United did not sign Diarra in June is as much a testament to Real Madrid’s charm and allure for most European players (not to mention their financial power) as it is a testament to United’s inability to test Lyon’s resolve to keep Diarra.
Back in June before the World Cup started rumours were that Diarra was being courted by Milan, Madrid and Man Utd, and that Diarra was waiting for a Real Madrid offer before deciding on his future. That says it all about United’s chances of getting the player right there. I’m not sure that Madrid want Diarra as badly as they want Kaka (plus they’ve signed Emerson in that position), so any rumoured interest has to be taken with a grain of salt.
Milan surely don’t need him unless they are planning to offload Gattuso - a possibility that would be appealing to United fans but is still a fantasy. There is an even lesser chance of United moving for the player, especially since they have Carrick and Scholes in the center of the park and neither will be benched.
Madrid can certainly afford him, but do they really need him? Will Diarra become Baptista - another strong player who failed to shine in Madrid? Hopefully Capello will keep Baptista, bring in Diarra and start those two in midfield - why not bulldoze your opposition if you can.
I’d love to see Diarra play for Manchester United but I don’t see it happening. We don’t have that much money (to tempt Lyon to sell), and Diarra wants to go to Madrid.
Actually they do need Diarra , Capello always plays with two defensive midfielders, at Juventus it was Viera and Emerson , at Madrid it will(hopefully) be Emerson + Diarra.
Like Shevchenko want to go to Chelsea & Gallas wants Ac milan , its the same case with Diarra.., he want Madrid.
I doubt United was ever going to move in for Diarra. The club is much smarter than that. I’m sure they studied which players suit the needs of the club before analysing the cost of the player’s transfer.
Not every player wants to play at United. Why should we have a divine right to interest every player to jump at the very slightest chance to sign for us? And not all players want to sign for Madrid. The players are smarter now. The ones who prefer to have a successful career littered with medals will aim for clubs like Barcelona or AC Milan or Manchester United or Arsenal. Those who want the cash and don’t mind being on the sidelines will undoubtedly go to Chelsea or even Real Madrid. That is the way the world of football is right now.
Personally, I don’t care if Diarra wants to play for Madrid. He can go wherever he chooses to go. United need players who understand the history and tradition of the club and are totally committed to the club’s ambitions and goals.
Good post hardy. That last line sums it up pretty well…
Oh hardyboy, next time try not to seem so bitter. It’s rich that you suggest that players should move to Man Utd if what they want is medals, and not to Madrid or Chelsea…hmm, Man Utd, a club saddled in debt and in serious decline, or Madrid, Europe’s most successful club, and Chelsea, back-to-back EPL winners. Poor guy.
Jace - good point. How does that fit in with the wealth of striking options at Madrid’s disposal?
Hardy, I can appreciate your passion for your club, but let’s get real here. Madrid have strengthened significantly over the summer, while ManU have not. They are looking far more likely to challenge for the league and CL than ManU are. I hate Real, but they also have more history, trophies, and prestige than ManU, whether you like it or care to admit it or not. Not to mention better weather. Unless this guy was a ManU fan, it’s not difficult to choose. Even then, for players, it’s a job - for some it’s more important about playing time and medals, for other just money.
Hardboy, pls,dun be too hard on yaself.Real Madrid,the best club and the most succesful club in European football history.The greatest club in the world.It would be the dream of most players to play for the best club ever and rightly so.why not.Every club has a period i its historywhere they need to under go team building,that doesn’t change the greatest club in the world .the fact still remains, the stats talk for themselves. who has achieved better than madrid over the last decade? No one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!The only team which has an oficial best team of the century from fifa.
Oh come on…there are Madrid fans in this world? well well…
Madrid needs to do a LOT of rebuilding - United need to do some tinkering. Madrid ‘always’ look like challenging for the CL - whether they will is an entirely different matter.
League - United have the best team ‘man for man’ in the Premiership bar Chelsea. We can push them hard enough, we’re closing the gap at the top and towards the end of the day, United is still the team best placed to beat Chelsea.
Real Madrid’s legacy and history is impressive, but it’s just that - history. We won 8 titles in 11 years, but that’s history. It doesn’t matter now. Liverpool won shitall in the 70s and Madrid won 3 CL titles in a row (so did a couple of other teams, actually) - all in the past.
Right now, Barca, Milan and Chelsea are the teams to beat in Europe. Madrid, United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Bayern, Lyon, Inter - we all have some catching up to do.
Ahmed Bilal!
Well you see , Madrid only has 3 acting strikers, Ruud, Ronaldo & Raul.
Cassano, Robinho are left wingers and Baptista is used as AM.
The formations would look like this.
————————-Casillas——————
—Cicinho—–Ramos—–Cannavaro—–Carlos
—————-Emerson———–Diarra————–
—Beckham———–Baptista————Robinho–
—————————–Ruud———————
Jace - I disagree with your categorisation of Robinho and Cassano as ‘left-wingers’
Support strikers maybe, but not wingers.
Very interesting lineup though.
you might want to read this: http://soccerlens.com/write/
Your defense of your club is understandable, Ahmed. But you should be rebuilding instead of just tinkering. Scholes will be 32 and Giggs 33 this season. Who’s going to take their place? Both were either unfit or out of form for large parts of last season. Fergie has taken years to find a replacement for Keane and settled on Carrick. Is it going to be the same for those two? Park’s a tidy squad player, but is he up to ManU standards? Can O’Shea return to the form of his debut year? Can Fletcher ever be good? Your defense should be better this season, but you’re kidding yourself if you think that the single addition of Carrick will raise your team. Since 99, ManU have NEVER looked like challenging in the CL.
Well Robinho has been playing that position all last season and Capello has been using Cassano there in the pre-season games.
They were support strikers but they are not used for that position in the club now, thats why Ruud Van Nistelrooy was bought because Capello only had Rual & Ronaldo as true strikers.
Jace, you are a brother. Infact, looking at the madrid lineup that u have put up makes me so happy.We could even have Ashley cole,ribery, and even Kaka still to come. A great team that we are, even in our crisis, we are always within the top four in the league, this shows what a consistent team we are. If u thouh Ac milan, chelsea and Barca are the only lubs to beat then think again.in ma opinion with regards to the defence cicinho,ramos, cannavarro and Roberto carlos bad huh?i dun think so. Midfield-emerson,beckham,diaara,baptista,Guti… bad? idu think so. foward-Raul, ronaldo, Ruud, cassano, robinho bad?i dun think so. coach- Capello, bad?
i dun think so. So my friend, Madrid are abt twice as strong as they were last season. They are a force to reckon with this season. No doubt abt dat.Nothing strong aba Ac milan now my friend. Like what real has gone thru over the last three years, theirs is abt to begin.the have an aging team, they need to do team building,they re not going far in Europ this season.Chelsea have no European pedigree.To win the premiership twice doesn’t make the team a team to beat.for my money, the teams to beat for the coming season are Barca,Lyon,Real and Werder Bremen.