Manchester City in £8 million bid for French star

According to The News of the World, Manchester City boss Mark Hughes has launched an £8 million bid for Portsmouth star Lassana Diarra.

After impatient spells at Chelsea and Arsenal, Diarra completed his £5 million move to Portsmouth back in January. Diarra cited his reason for leaving the club was a lack of first-team football, even though the Frenchman had been signed as a “prospect for the future” and had only been at the Emirates Stadium for 5 months.

Since at Portsmouth Diarra’s reputation has grown significantly and the player has a made a huge impact at Fratton Park. His performances led to the star winning a place in the Euro 2008 French squad.

However, The News of the World claims that Portsmouth will reject City’s initial bid and hope for an improved offer nearer to the £10 million mark. Even if Portsmouth recieve an offer of this amount Redknapp is still unlikely to want to sell the player, but Diarra may be attracted by yet another switch after calling his move to Portsmouth “a stepping stone for the future”.

Diarra joins the ever-growing City wishlist, with bids for Ronaldinho and Jo still high on new boss Mark Hughes’ agenda.