“We’ll have to get used to it.”
That’s what Thierry Gomez, president of Le Mans FC, had to say about the interest shown by the likes of Celtic, Newcastle United and Leicester City in Stéphane Diarra, his new star.
A couple of days ago, it was reported by L’Equipe that Neil Lennon’s, Steve Bruce’s and Brendan Rodgers’ scouts had been looking at the winger, currently third best dribbler in Ligue 2.
However, just because they know the interest is there doesn’t mean Le Mans will just happily sell their asset in January.
Gomez told Le Maine Libre: “For now, we haven’t received any offer. Stéphane also knows where he comes from. If anything were to happen, it would be with our support.”
With talk of the need for €10m to convince the Ligue 2 side, it would be easy for Diarra’s head to be turned, but the president made it clear they would look to avoid that as much as possible.
He added: “The subject isn’t relevant now. We’re entering a month that can bring up a lot of hope but also a lot of danger, so let’s stay focused on the next games including the one against Caen on Friday night.”
So, Celtic, Newcastle and Leicester have been warned. It won’t be easy to sign Diarra in January.
The 20-year-old has played 16 times for Le Mans this season, scoring three goals and assisting his teammates twice.
