Alu Diarra is a French football player who never found a club where he could gain a foothold for a long time. An exception can be considered only a four-year period in Bordeaux, but first things first. In this article you will find out what the career path of the talented defensive midfielder Alu Diarr was, what clubs he played in and what successes he managed to achieve.
Carier start
Alu Diarra was born on July 15, 1981 in France and at the age of six he entered the Onet-sous-Bois football academy. There he trained for a long time, until in 1993 he moved to the Villepinte club system, where he spent another four years. At the age of sixteen, Diarra moved to the youth team of the club “Luan Cuizo”, where he trained for another three years before signing a professional contract. However, he didn’t stay there for long - his talent was noticed by the larger clubs, and already in the summer of 2000, the 19-year-old defensive midfielder ended up in one of the strongest clubs in the world, Bayern Munich. Many believed that Diarr had a great future in this club, however, in the two years he spent there, the player did not enter the field even once. Having played 41 games for the double of Bayern, Diarra moved to Liverpool, however, there was no place for him at the base, but no one was going to put him in the double. The management of the club decided to develop the talent of Alu Diarra in another way, through rent.
Rent
The French footballer of Malian origin was listed in Liverpool for three years, but, as in the case of Bayern Munich, did not play a single match there. A month after the signing of the contract, Diarra was sent home for rent at Le Havre, for which he played 25 matches. Then Alu was in the “Bastia”, where he entered the field already 35 times, and after that - in the “Lance”, where he played 34 matches. In all, during this time he scored six goals, but it is worth remembering that Diarra is a player of the defensive plan, and this is not his first priority. As a result, in 2005 Liverpool made a final decision on the 24-year-old Frenchman - he did not have a future in the English club, so Alu Diarra, a footballer who played only on lease, went home to France. The last club he played for, Lance, agreed to buy back a midfielder contract for three million euros.
French period
In Lance, Diarr's talent began to unfold, so here the player did not stay long. In one season, he played 32 matches, scored two goals and was bought by one of the strongest French clubs, Lyon, for a price more than two times the price Lance paid Liverpool a year earlier. In Lyon, Diarra won his first trophy, becoming the champion of France with his new club - and again changed his registration. This time another powerful club, Bordeaux, posted seven and a half million for the 26-year-old opornik. As mentioned earlier, it was in Bordeaux that Diarra stayed the longest - he spent four seasons in this club, playing a total of 133 matches, scoring 11 goals, and most importantly, winning both the Championship and the French Cup in 2009. In 2011, which began to lose its grip, the 30-year-old player was sold to Marseille for five million euros, where he managed to win the French Cup in one year. And after this triumph, Diarra was sold at West Ham for two and a half million euros.
English period
At West Ham, Alu spent only six months, after which he was sent to play the season at Rennes on loan. After returning, he spent another year in an English club, but during all this time he entered the field only six times. As a result, the player’s contract with the club ended in 2014, and the 33-year-old player was left without work for a while. But he did not want to end his career, so in February 2015 he seized on the opportunity presented to him: another English club, Charlton Athletic, decided to conclude a short-term contract with him. There he showed himself perfectly in the last segment of the season, for which he received an extended contract for another year. In total, the Charlton Athletic Club Diarra spent 44 matches, scoring one goal. And when the midfielder’s contract came to an end, he decided to return to his homeland and moved to Nancy, for which, unfortunately, he had not played a single match so far.
Team appearances
Diarra received his first call to the national team quite late, in 2004, at the age of 23. He made his debut in a friendly match against Ireland, ending in a goalless draw. As a result, he was included in the French national team for the 2006 World Cup, having replaced in the group stage match against Togo, as well as playing in the final, where the French lost to the Italians. Alu missed the 2008 European Championship, but went to the 2010 World Cup, but only entered the field in a match against South Africa, but with a captain's armband. Diarra also went to the 2012 European Championship , where he spent all three matches of the group stage at the base from the whistle to the whistle. The third of these matches, against the national team of Sweden, was the last in the career of a midfielder. In total, he spent 44 matches for the national team.