Arsene turned Lauren into a right back but Lauren was a mature footballer who had won the Olympic Games and the African Nations.
Lassana Diarra is not Lauren. But he is tidy and sharp and compact, a holding midfielder who came into the Chelsea side at first as Makelele’s understudy.
Unfortunately, as a right back last season he bodychecked every opponent who beat him and got a yellow card in almost every game.
He is not a right back and every thing I saw last season suggests he will never be a right back.
Diarra is a very good central midfielder, though. He’s athletic and hard and skilful and tidy in his passing. There is a lot more to come and he will blossom in a more adventurous team which trains in a different way and concentrates far more on attack than defence.
He’s a good player and Arsenal have done well to sign him. He will fit into their training sessions very quickly and very easily, I think. Most Chelsea fans are upset about him joining Arsenal.
Mainly, Diarra can play Fabregas football.
Arsenal’s game now, compared to when Diarra started playing for Chelsea, is based on sharpness and mobility and accurate short passing.
The team used to play DB10/PV4 football, which was fiercer and faster, slicing through defences with one-touch passing and blinding pace and knocking opponents out. Now the Fabregas team outboxes them and wins on points over 12 rounds. Diarra can play a big role in that style, making it more consistent, more efficient.
One imagines that William Gallas will help him settle in.
As everybody knows, Diarra has been linked with Arsenal for months. He has said he wanted to join Arsenal. But Mourinho said no. And Steve Clarke said : We’re not gonna sell him to a competitor, we’d rather sell him abroad.
The Arsenal offer for Diarra has been on the table for weeks.Then, on deadline day, at 15 minutes before midnight, Chelsea decide to sell.We will probably never know the full details of what happened.
But Usmanov may have had a word in Roman’s ear. They are friends.
Dein might have said, ” Just call Roman and say, Look, let’s not be silly about this. He’s a young French boy who wants to join a French manager. What’s wrong with that? You don’t need him. Let the lad be happy.”
That is conceivable. It probably didn’t happen like that. But it might have done.And it doesn’t matter if we never know how it happened.
What matters is that Diarra is now an Arsenal player.