Lassana Diarra was keen to play down comparisons to former Real Madrid midfielder Claude Makelele after being unveiled as the Primera Liga champions' latest signing. Diarra was officially presented as a Madrid player at the club's Bernabeu stadium after passing his medical and putting pen to paper on a four-and-a-half year contract with the Spanish giants.
The 23-year-old France international, who joins from Portsmouth for a fee reportedly in the region of €20million, has been brought in to help cover for the injury losses of Madrid midfielders Mahamadou Diarra and Ruben de la Red, who have both been ruled out for the season.
Lassana Diarra could inherit the number six shirt that his namesake Mahamadou had been wearing, but it is another midfielder who the former Chelsea and Arsenal player has most been likened to - countryman Makelele, who played for Madrid from 2000-2003.
However, while Diarra admits he is proud of the comparisons with his former Stamford Bridge team-mate Makelele, he insists he is his own man.
"It's an honour to be compared to Makelele, but Makelele is Makelele and I am me. We have some things in common but I'm my own player. They compare me to him, but he came here when he was a little older, I'm younger," said Diarra, who will wear the name 'Lass' on the back of his shirt.
"I don't want to be called Diarra One or Diarra Two. I want to be known as Lass," he explained.
Diarra also insists he is ready to make the step to play for the nine-times European champions.
"For four or five years I have been at great clubs, such as Arsenal and Chelsea, as well as the French national team, and I'm ready to play for Real Madrid," he said.
"I have a lot of desire to do well, and I'm looking forward to defending the Real Madrid colours. It's a dream to be here and I'm very happy.
"I hope everything goes as well as possible for me here in Madrid."
Diarra is the third new player Madrid will have available to them in the new year following the additions of Klaas Jan Huntelaar and Dani Parejo over the last few weeks.
Huntelaar was signed from Dutch giants Ajax for a fee that could rise to €27million while Parejo was recalled from his loan spell at Queens Park Rangers in England.
Madrid president Ramon Calderon said of the latest arrival: "He is an exceptional player who has a lot of experience and will be a magnificent solution for us for the rest of the season and four more."
