Lassana Diarra Has Real Madrid Going Crazy

Real Madrid received midfielder Lassana Diarra from Portsmouth for £20 million today. The player signed for Portsmouth in the January transfer window of 2008 and made 31 appearances in his 12-month spell with the club, scoring three goals.

Diarra's career started with Ligue 2 side Le Harve. Next he was signed by Chelsea for a reported £1 million in 2005, and was soon touted by many as Claude Makelele's successor.

Ironically, Makelele stayed at the club beyond Diarra's tenure, and after 30 appearances for the club in two years, he moved to rivals Arsenal for £2 million in 2007.

However, his time at Arsenal was much the same as he made just 13 appearances for the Gunners in a brief six-month spell before being sold to Portsmouth for £5.5 million in January of 2008.

Diarra went on to win the FA Cup with Portsmouth and became their first-ever goal scorer in European Competition, guiding the side to a 2-0 win over Vitoria of Portugal.

He was also a non-playing member of the French European Championship squad in 2008.

At just 23, Diarra will begin playing for his fifth club. After short spells at two major clubs in England, what’s to say that Diarra won't be left in the dark again like he was by Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger?

I think most people would agree that Mourinho, and especially Wenger, are good judges of young players, as well as being fantastic managers. Both were so unimpressed by Diarra that not only did they decide that this player wasn't good enough for their club, but they sold him to rival clubs.

In both situations, there were extenuating circumstances, but the selling of a player with Diarra's talent can't go unnoticed, no matter the reason.

With the problems Arsenal have at holding midfield (Diarra's position) it makes Diarra's leaving even more unusual. Imagine if they had kept him?

Is that Wenger's misjudgment or Diarra's ambition getting the best of himself? I'd say a bit of both.

No matter those managers' opinions of him, Diarra's stock and price are certainly rising.

He moved from Le Havre to Chelsea for £1 million, and then doubled in price after 30 games at Chelsea in two years. Then, after playing 13 games for Arsenal (for a total of just 20 Premiership games at this point) he more than doubled in price, reaching £5.5 million. Now, after 12 months with Portsmouth and 31 appearances later (be it more often from the start this time) he has quadrupled in price to £20 million.

How can a player who has done so little in such a long space of time have a price tag so ridiculous? It appears Madrid are buying the same player Chelsea bought in 2005—and paying £19 million more for him. 

Yes, Diarra has played for some quality sides, but for goodness sake he hasn’t even played 100 professional football matches yet and he’s worth £20 million?

Madrid has agreed to spend a lot of money, presumably based on the potential they see. However, at 23, shouldn't Diarra have shown more promise of potential than we've seen thus far?

It's well-known that Madrid overprices players—look at the £130 million rumors floating around Cristiano Ronaldo. But to offer this kind of money to a player who scored once goal in seven appearances is crazy to comprehend, even for Real Madrid.

In those games, Diarra's play was lackluster, to say the least. His impact was so minor, I found myself checking to see if he was even still on the pitch.

While holding midfield players don't get as much praise as the players who score the goals, lately more focus has been put on finding the quiet general in the middle of the field. And Diarra is not that player.

I know Diarra is highly rated by many out there, so to prove my point I've bought in the help of the Opta Index Stats from last season to prove Diarra's worth on the pitch.

Obviously I haven't chosen shooting or goals conceded because those stats would be irrelevant. Instead, I've chosen a few categories that highlight what a holding midfielder should be about.

Minutes Per Tackle

Javier Mascherano: 13.1
Gavin McCann: 17.2
Nigel Reo-Coker: 17.5
Wilson Palacios: 17.6
Steed Malbranque: 18.0

Tackles Attempted and Tackle Success Rate

Reo-Coker: 178, 79.78 percent
Mascherano: 165, 75.76 percent
Malbranque: 158, 75.95 percent
Muamba: 156, 76.28 percent
Butt: 151, 71.52 percent
Clichy: 150, 80.67 percent
Warnock: 130, 76.92 percent
McCann: 117, 65.81 percent
Brown: 116, 81.03 percent
Brown: 112, 68.75 percent

Total Passes and Passing Accuracy

Fabregas: 2318, 81.06 percent
Clichy: 1975, 83.19 percent
Flamini: 1710, 86.55 percent
Gerrard: 1652, 77.66 percent
Butt: 1630, 75.03 percent
Scholes: 1592, 89.70 percent
Carrick: 1585, 83.22 percent
Hleb: 1552, 82.73 percent
Ferdinand: 1546, 84.80 percent
Neville: 1533, 72.47 percent

Diarra didn't crack the top in any of these categories.

Now, I did find stats for the season so far, but because of how few games Diarra has played, I didn't feel it fair to use them as evidence.

I was resigned to defeat in finding the stats for the period in which Diarra played due to the fact that Sky Sports update their Opta page every month, so finding the pre-November month was impossible.

But let me assure you in terms of the percentages, he didn't come anywhere close just like the figures show from last season.

This should bury the hatchet in terms of Diarra’s true ability and worth. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a good player, but not Real Madrid quality. Portsmouth suited his talent just right.