Inter Close To Sealing Diarra Deal
Inter Milan are closing in on a deal to sign Real Madrid midfielder Mahamadou Diarra, according to the Corriere dello Sport.
The 26-year-old has been tipped to leave the Spanish-giants for quite sometime now due to his frosty relationship with Coach Bernd Schuster.
Diarra has not been featuring too heavily recently, and Argentine youngster Fernando Gago is now Schuster’s preferred defensive midfielder.
Inter have identified the signing of a top-class centre midfielder as their priority in this summer's transfer market, as the injury-prone Patrick Vieira, who has missed much of the season with injury, is set to turn 32.
Diarra joined Madrid from Lyon in the summer of 2006 for €26m, however he has never really settled in the Spanish capital.
Reports in the Spanish press this morning suggested that Madrid were looking to replace the Mali international with Chelsea’s Michael Essien, who is keen to leave Stamford Bridge following the departure of José Mourinho.
Essien and Diarra were former team-mates at French-outfit Lyon, where they formed a rock-solid partnership in the middle-of-the-park.