Wednesday, 31st August, 2011
French midfielder Lassana Diarra seems set to remain at Real Madrid.
Diarra was declared surplus to requirements at the Bernabeu earlier this summer and omitted from the club’s pre-season tours of North America and Asia.
Real Madrid even agreed a fee with Tottenham Hotspur for the 26-year-old, and Diarra did seem set to head to White Hart Lane, with the midfielder believed to have even sketched out the outline of a potential contract.
But the former Arsenal player took umbrage with Real Madrid trying to force his departure and was suddenly unwilling to move to Harry Redknapp’s Premier League outfit.
Unlike Pedro Leon, Royston Drenthe and Fernando Gago, Diarra is willing to dig in his heels at the Bernabeu and will not be moved.
His prospects for the new season did look bleak, but Jose Mourinho indicated at a press conference on Saturday that if the Frenchman remained he saw no reason not to use him.
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