Lassana Diarra

Lassana "Lass" Diarra (born 10 March 1985 in Paris) is a French footballer who currently plays for Real Madrid. His predominant position is defensive midfielder but he can also play in a more advanced role and has played at right back, which he occasionally did for former clubs Chelsea and Portsmouth, as well as France.

Club career

Early career

Diarra was turned down by several football clubs as a youngster. FC Nantes deemed him too "small and lightweight" to succeed at 170 cm and 58 kg (5'7" and 9 stone). Diarra admitted he thought his "football career was over". His next stop was Le Mans UC, where Diarra claimed they "didn't seem to care" about him.

Le Havre

Diarra's footballing career finally began at Le Havre, a former French top-flight football team. Outstanding in his defensive midfield role, his reputation started to grow and impressive performances saw his selection to the French U-21 squad. Along with the reputation came interest from other clubs, and Chelsea became potential suitors. With Chelsea's Claude Makélélé not getting any younger, Chelsea's wide network of scouts tagged Diarra as the "new Makélélé" and the club promptly paid £1 million for his services in July 2005.

Chelsea

Diarra was in Chelsea's first team squad in the 2005–06...
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