New Player

Apparently (according to the Mail), we have a new signing...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... l?ITO=1490

 

What what?! 0.o

 

There was a trialist in the reserve team the last few games so I guess it was him. If he can find any kind of form he had at Madrid and Lyon then we found that defensive midfielder that we need for the next couple of years. He used to be a really good player and since he's only 30 and we have a track record of bringing in older players and getting their best so this could be a really good move.

 

It's official! :banana-dance:

Fulham Football Club is delighted to announce the signing of Mahamadou Diarra, pending the successful completion of a visa. The agreement sees Diarra at Fulham until the end of the current season and with an option to further extend to 2013.

Read more: http://www.fulhamfc.com/Club/News/NewsA ... z1na2JAHtU

 

Worth a punt, if he doesn't work out, oh well.

Can't think of any players from Real, but we have a few past their prime loanees from Barca; Jari Litamen and Gudjohnsen (spelling?)

 

Looks like the Mail is 2 for 2 (Pogs and this guy).

Guess I'll give them more world wide waist of time time.

 

Makes sense with Sidwell out, especially since it looks like we're going to stick with this 4-2-3-1 formation. I'd expect to see Diarra competing with Etuhu to provide depth behind Danny and Dembele in the CDM slots.

 

Interested to see how he does. Definitely seems like someone worth taking a chance on.

 

Oliver Dacourt - wow, forgot he ever suited up for the Whites. On a free, whatever, if Diarra can be fit and get in, then God bless. I won't lose sleep either way, but he may, just may, be better than Etuhu if fit. If so, then this signing will be a good piece of business. But, if all the raindrops were lemondrops and gumdrops...

 

Diarra is definitely not Olivier Dacourt. I saw Dacourt play late in the '08/'09 season and he was a shadow of the man you bossed the Leeds midfield earlier in the decade; woefully off the pace. Fulham 0 Everton 2 on the final day of the season which clinched our 7th place and European tour was his last competitive match.

On the other hand, Mahamadou Diarra is the business. I could not believe he was our #19 and I tried calming down my expectations all week. Look at that final ball for Clint Dempsey's goal: It is inch perfect length and pace. He may have been at the start of the 20 pass sequence that led to the goal as well but I will have to watch it again to confirm. He sliced through O'Hara twice on his right. Diarra's passing and movement over 20+ minutes were pure class. He just might be the long awaited new Danny Murphy.