Alou Diarra

Alou Diarra is a defensive midfielder, born on 15 July 1981 in a French town Villepinte.

Alou’s youth career began in 1997 when he first joined the Aulnay-sous-Bois youth team. Diarra was playing for the team during 7 years. In 1993 he transferred to a local football club Villepinte and played for the youth team. In 1997 the player started attending Louhans-Cuiseaux academy.

1999 was the year when Diarra signed a professional contract with Louhans-Cuiseaux where he had been training during previous two years.

In 2000 Alou transferred to Bayern Munich and signed a two-year contract with the club. However he was put in the reserve team where played 41 matches. Alou Diarra never appeared in the first squad of the German club.

In 2002 Liverpool acquired the player from the German club signing him to a three-year contract and immediately loaned Alou to Le Havre where the French footballer spent 1 season playing 25 matches.

In 2003 Alou continued to appear for Bastia on loan. During the season Alou played 35 games netting 4 goals.

From 2004 to 2005 Alou was loaned to Lens where he became the core player of the team. After the loan period finished the Lens managers resolved to sign the footballer to a professional contract. From 2005 to 2006 Alou was playing for the French club and participated in 32 matches scoring 2 goals.

From 2006 to 2007 the footballer was acquired by Lyon; however he played only 15 games.

In 2007 Alou transferred to Bordeaux who played in Ligue 1. At the new club Diarra became one of the core players of the team and scored 133 games.

In 2012 the footballer joined Marseille and a year later moved to West Ham United. He did not succeed in London though and was sent on loan to Rennes in 2013. In 2014 Diarra was released from the club.

From 2001 to 2004 Alou Diarra was invited to the France national U20 and U21 teams. Alou has been called up to the France national team 44 times since 2004.