Habib Diarra #21

Profile

Courted by some of Europe’s biggest clubs, Diarra has enjoyed a fine debut season in English football with promoted Sunderland. The box-to-box midfielder, as capable of scoring goals as retrieving the ball in his own half, is the motor in the middle of the pitch for Senegal. When he started to train with Strasbourg’s senior team as a teenager, Diarra was unsure whether to use the informal French ‘tu’ to address his teammates. He opted for the formal ‘vous’ and was laughed at and told not to be silly – he was one of them now. By age 20, he was the captain. Diarra, who lived in Alsace from the age of five, chose to represent the Lions of Teranga, who his father played for twice himself.

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