Scottish giants Celtic are currently looking to trump former manager Brendan Rodgers in the chase of French midfielder Stephane Diarra, as per L’Equipe.
The report claims that while Celtic do retain an interest in the Le Mans man, Rodgers’ Leicester City and another Premier League side in Newcastle United are also keen on signing the midfielder.
The French outlet states that Neil Lennon’s Glasgow-based side have been keeping tabs on Diarra for a while now and this could be the time when they make their interest known and trump the Foxes and the Magpies.
Highly-rated in France
Diarra, who is valued at £450k (Transfermarkt), is 20 and has impressed many in France at such a tender age. He has been at Ligue 2 club Le Mans for only some months now – signing permanently this past summer. But before that, the midfielder was on loan at the club from Rennes last season.
This season, Diarra has played 13 times in Ligue 2 for Le Mans. He has found the back of the net twice so far, assisting once too. In the cup, he has played a total of three games and has scored once and has one assist to his name in that tournament.
During his loan spell last season, Diarra had impressed. He had helped the club earn promotion from the Championnat National (third division) to the second division. He played 31 times in the Championnat, scoring three times as well. In the play-offs for Ligue 1, he had assisted once in two games.
Originally from Abidjan but with French citizenship, Diarra is a right midfielder by trade.
TIF Tactics
Diarra is a proper winger who is said to be able to play on both flanks. Perhaps, that is why Neil Lennon looks intent on signing the youngster. Bar the age factor, he seems to be a workhorse.
As things stand though, Celtic have three proper right-wingers in the side. One is James Forrest and another is 32-year-old Jonny Hayes, with Marian Shved also available (TransferMarkt).
But Hayes’ contract at Celtic runs out at the end of the season and he has drawn links with the likes of Swansea City, Huddersfield Town and Cardiff City in the Championship. These links suggest that his future at Celtic isn’t as secure as Lennon might want.
If Hayes does move on, Celtic will be left just one proper right-winger in Forrest and that isn’t a good situation to be in. In that case, going for a cheap option in Diarra would be a very sensible move indeed.