Veteran Midfielder Says Moving To Liverpool Was A Mistake

Alou Diarra might not be a name known to many but the French midfielder did join Liverpool early in his career and things did not go according to plans for the now 35-year-old.

Diarra, who has played in Germany, France and England, joined Liverpool in 2002 after a couple of years at Bayern Munich. Though he barely played for the Reds, Diarra spent a lot of time away on loan, despite being under contract with the Reds.

The Frenchman did play for 13 different clubs in his career and is now representing Nancy in France. Speaking with French radio channel RMC

“My first experience in England, with Liverpool, it was far too early and I didn’t have enough experience to go abroad.”

Diarra eventually played for three French clubs while under contract at Liverpool. The former French international made his move to Lens in 2005 permanently and then moved to Lyon before spending four seasons with Bordeaux.

A maverick with many clubs under his belt

The former Bayern Munich player then made a move to Marseille before surprisingly making a return to England with West Ham United. The Frenchman did spend one year on loan in between before rerunning to France with Nancy.

Diarra though had a much better international career as he played in two World Cups, in 2006 and 2010 and also got to captain the side in 2010 against South Africa. The 35-year-old was certainly a youngster as he joined Gerard Houllier’s “French revolution” at Liverpool, which saw many French footballers move to the club.

The experiment didn’t work out all that great though and Houllier was replaced by Rafael Benitez, who also had a bit of a Spanish flavour with his signings at the club.

Diarra might have been too young to make a move away from France or even Germany where he was settled. It is not a surprise reading about a player struggling to adapt to a new country as we have seen even international players struggle after making a move to England.

This does serve as a warning to Liverpool though. Jurgen Klopp does have a penchant to move for players who are young and bringing them to England, especially if they are not used to the climate could turn out to be a bit of a problem in the end. Klopp has to be a little careful but he has done a decent job with the transfers so far.