Diarra gone – Robin out + Arsecast 60.

You know, it really seems like we’ve spent a huge amount of time talking about Lassana Diarra, a player who barely merits that kind of coverage. His move to Portsmouth was made official yesterday and the Pompey fans must have been delighted to hear him talking so passionately about their club.

Diarra said:

Portsmouth is a respectable club, which has achieved a very good start to the season. Some people say I made a mistake by joining Portsmouth considering Les Bleus. I don’t think so. The people at Portsmouth know I will not spend my life at this club. If I shine, if a really big club wants me, I know already that everything will go well.

What. A. Cunt. We’re well shot of somebody with an attitude like that and considering he’s been at two of the biggest clubs in England and fallen short it’ll make other clubs that bit wary of him. Add to that the fact that he has all the backbone of a earthworm and he’s very obviously damaged goods.

Of course people will talk about our midfield options and how we might regret this in the future but I don’t think you can ever regret selling somebody like Diarra. Yes, he’s a good player, nowhere near as good as he thinks he is mind you, but you need guys with character and he doesn’t have it. I’m interested in hearing what Arsene has to say about it later – no doubt he’ll be as diplomatic as ever but I still think he’ll have some pointed remark or other.

Ahead of tomorrow’s game against Fulham there’s some disappointing team news. Johann Djourou is missing with a groin problem but the big news is that Robin van Persie is set to be out for a ‘few weeks’ with a thigh strain that he picked up in the Carling Cup semi-final. There’s no doubt whatsoever that Robin is a fantastic player, with the potential to be really great in my opinion, but this will now be the third season running that he’s missed half the season through injury. We have to hope that he’s just been really unlucky and that this all happened because he broke a mirror seven years ago, or something. If the bad luck stops and we can get a full season out of him then that’ll be great but otherwise the manager may have to plan for van Persie to only be available for half our games and make a decision on that.

Can you continue to depend on a player who is hardly ever fit? It’s such a shame to see him struggle with injuries like this and hopefully he can put them behind him but his track record suggests otherwise.

Looking at a couple of the youngsters now and Arsene Wenger talks about Fran Merida’s loan to Real Sociedad (who will be announcing a new manager next week after the departure of Chris Coleman. With the pressure on to achieve promotion you have to wonder will he rely on a young guy like Fran), while Nacer Barazite talks about his return to action after dislocating his shoulder in the Carling Cup against Blackburn.

Now, Arsecast time.

In this weeks Arsecast, sponsored by OleOle.com, I chat to GilbertoSilver from Gunnerblog about Diarra, Flamini, Birmingham and Fulham (excuse the noises in the background but apparently he was in a library and got chucked out for making too much noise, haha), the Man in the Bar has a player history, we’re at home with Eboue, Talkshite radio has a bit and more.

To subscribe to the arsecast in iTunes – click here. To download this week’s arsecast directly – click here (13mb MP3). You can find the arsecast archives here. And you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

And that’s your lot. Have a good Friday. More tomorrow.