Lyon midfielder Mahamadou Diarra is delighted the French champions will allow him to move to Real Madrid.

The Mali international is set for a switch to the Spanish giants after both clubs agreed on a fee for the former Vitesse Arnhem player - with the fee thought to be around €26 million (£17.7 million).

Diarra is now expected to concur on personal terms with the Santiago Bernabeu club, as Real aim to pose a real challenge to arch-rivals Barcelona.

The 25-year-old, who had also been the subject of interest from Manchester United this summer, is excited at the chance to join Fabio Capello's new-look side.

"I'm the happiest person in the world," Diarra told Spanish sports daily AS.

"It was a dream for me to play for Real Madrid and at last, I'm going to fulfil it."

Lyon star Juninho Pernambucano is already resigned to seeing his fellow midfielder move on.

"At the moment, it is better for us to get prepared for Diarra's departure," Juninho said.

"He is a talented player, and he will be difficult to replace. But it is different than being irreplaceable.

"A lot of people used that word last season after the Essien departure (to Chelsea).

"But last term, the group proved we had solutions if we kept our desire and solidarity."

Real president Ramon Calderon was pleased that Lyon lowered their price for Diarra.

"We carried out the negotiations with great professionalism," Calderon told Spanish sports daily Marca.

"We closed the deal for a figure that was considerably less than Lyon wanted."

The nine-times European Cup winners have already snapped up Italy's World Cup winning captain Fabio Cannavaro and Brazil midfielder Emerson from Juventus, while Ruud van Nistelrooy arrived from Manchester United.

While Real have been constantly linked with Arsenal striker Jose Antonio Reyes, Calderon believes more new faces will arrive before the August 31 transfer deadline.

"We can still sign more players and I think we will do so before the transfer deadline expires," added Calderon.

Do you think he will be a success at Madrid? Who will start?

Midfielders :

Diarra
Emerson
Pablo Garcia (Allowed too leave)
Thomas Gravesen (Definately leaving)
David Beckham
Guti
Carlos Diogo
Julio Baptista

Good signing in my opinion.
Now we need a central defender (like Chivu) and Reyes could come too.
I bet for a Diarra-Emerson midfield with Beckham-Reyes on the wings. But I don't know what's gonna happen with the forwards: Robinho, Raúl, Cassano, Van Nistelrooy, Ronaldo... they all can't play!

I agree, also Capello is an excellent man manager, he will be able to keep most of the players satisified.

More bad news
I hope Diarra, Cannavaro and Emerson will flop and bring bad luck to Real, just like beckham did.
We are going to take our 3rd consecutive trophy, even if Real signs the whole world.

So Real get him for 26 mil euro but when ManU wanted him it was 25 mil POUNDS! I'm upset at Lyon cause he could have been the perfect replacement for Keane.

Real still need a playmaker. Barcelona has Ronaldinho and Deco and even players like Messi and Giuly can create chances for others, but Real has no-one now that Zidane has retired. Who can do that? Guti or Baptista?

Unless the Kaka deal happens i think Real will once again fail to top Barca. Right now the way i see it he is essential to this team. Real also needs 1-2 good defenders cause Cannavaro is good, but not THAT good! Barca's great success was managing to keep Zambrotta (and Thuram to a lesser extent, because of age) away from Capello's reach.

Remember my words. No Kaka, no title for Real.


(of course, if he does go there i still think Barca have a slight edge)

Yeah but is the player who has to choose, not the team.

Well, if he turns out to be the next Makelele and you decide he isn't good enough for you i hope he keeps us in mind and doesn't join Chelsea.

Of course, Perez is not the president anymore, but you never know who's going to be there in 2-3 years time.

Makelele wanted to go, we didn't say he wasn't good enough.

This reminds me to the old discussions, lol.

I think, we need a sticky for Makelele case
Raul, we had discussed it before Just want to correct something.
Makelele wanted to go because Real refused to recognize all the work he was doing. Real were paying high wages to players like beckham, and shut the door when Makelele asked for a raise.
You got Beckham and Makelele went away. Since then, no trophies, nothing, ....
marios, I am sure Real has learnt it the hard way. As a barcelona fan, I dont want to see the like of Makelele playing for another spanish club.


Hahaha Kaka is going nowhere and the transfert market is closing soon

Makelele was a damned arrogant and that wasn't the reason of his leaving. He thought he was Maradona, and honestly, he is not much better than Gravesen.
Okay, now I'm done.

Afrinux, no matter who we sign, you'll always say it's bad!

He should have changed his name since the day he went to London. Mak€l€l€ or Makecash instead of Makelele.

hahaha Raul!
I really dont hate Real per se, but remember you taught me how to be a good fan here:
http://forum.football.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=3611

LOL, you better remember that!
Nobody will let you support Real Madrid when we're on the top

Makelele is a work-horse that any coach would like in his team.

The guy felt he deserved a better contract with Real and with Del Bosque gone he wanted to make sure he got it. He was even encouraged by his better-paid teammates! But when he asked for a new contract the club told him no and that if he kept asking he would have to leave. So he did just that and asked for a transfer, knowing that other European clubs were eager to get his signature. Then your president, Florentino Perez, made this statement, which shows exactly how much respect he had for this player:



I say he just needed a better coach to tell him what he should and shouldn't do on the pitch. And he found that in Mourinho.

You had a real world-class midfielder with Makelele, but Perez's policy of not paying high wages to defensive players was moronic and not only did you lose Makelele because of that policy but also you failed to sign Patrick Vieira a couple of years ago. Calderon seems to value defensive players more than his predecessor and he managed to sign Cannavaro, Emerson and now Diarra, as well as a good striker. This man knows what's best for Real. I still say that you need a good playmaker like Kaka to win La Liga and the CL, but at least you'll be better than the last 3 seasons.

That policy you mention is not true.

Roberto Carlos has had a millionary contract and is a left-side defender, same as Helguera. I can't doubt Makelele is a world class destructive midfielder, but no way he's as good as Raúl, Ronaldo, Figo or Zidane (I'm naming the players there were when he left).

You can't compare defensive players to playmakers and strikers like that. It's like comparing apples and oranges.

And, if Carlos and Helguera did have really high contracts then doesn't it seem even more idiotic to you that Perez refused to give Makelele a similar contract? It was a bad decision and if you weren't so defensive about your team's tactics you'd see it.

This was just proving your theory is wrong.

And you were the first comparing apples with oranges, man!
I think Makelele had a great salary but still wanted more. He was an apple and wanted to become an orange

According to some rumors, Makelele is definitely a banana, mate

You are being unfair. Due to the work he was doing on the field, his wages should have been higher than beckham. Compare the wages they were receiving at that time; any sane person should have acted like Makele did.
You underestimated him and paid the price for 3 consecutive seasons; Facts: new manager every season, meaningless signings, no trophy, president ousted, Real fans becoming Barcelona fans(japan).

Raul, I know we have been over this several times.
Sorry, but I have to agree with Marios. You cant say that Makelele is not as good as the players you stated above, it is like comparing apples and oranges.
Makelele has been the best in his position the last 3 seasons. You cant say that Raul, Ronaldo have been the best in their positions because they were over throned by strikers like eto'o, henry, scheva. Same applies to Zidane beeing over throned by Ronaldinho.

Furthermore the players you have mentioned didnt get a single trophy during that period, while Makelele has been crowned EPL champion twice.
Would Real win a trophy during that same period if Makelele stayed? Nobody knows it for sure.
But ask anywhere, why Real didnt win anything the last seasons. The answer will likely be, because they let go of Makelele.

Japanese commentators just love the following phrase when Chelsea is playing: "What an outstanding player! Since he left Madrid, Real didnt win anything". Maybe I am brainwashed

Hahahaha! So true

are you serious?

have you not heard of sergio ramos? he's a great defender and will get even better in the future. we also have woodgate and helguera who are both pretty good defenders.

So basically you're saying that ALL your defence was missing was Cannavaro?

Ramos is a great talent and i hope he helps Real, but for now he's not a world-class player. Woodgate is often embarrassing and wants to move back to England and Capello doesn't seem to want him. Helguera has been with the club for ages and that counts, but really who says him when they think "one of the best defenders around"?

Face it, you need reinforcement at the back.

Real's line up will probably look like this a the back:

--------------- Casillas --------------------


Cicinho ------- Canavarro -------- S. Ramos ------------ R. Carlos


--------------- Emerson -------------- Diarra ---------------------

A back up for aging R. Carlos is needed. Ashley Cole would be a nice madrid target.