{"id":571831,"date":"2020-11-10T16:34:49","date_gmt":"2020-11-10T21:34:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=571831"},"modified":"2020-12-21T20:02:41","modified_gmt":"2020-12-22T01:02:41","slug":"french-defender-raphael-diarra-joins-oldham-athletic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2020\/11\/10\/french-defender-raphael-diarra-joins-oldham-athletic\/","title":{"rendered":"French Defender Raphael Diarra Joins Oldham Athletic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?s=Oldham+Athletic\" target=\"_self\">Oldham Athletic<\/a> have announced the signing of former <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?s=Monaco\" target=\"_self\">Monaco<\/a> defender <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/1dd5b593\/Raphael-Diarra\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Raphael Diarra<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Diarra, 25, joins on a contract that initially ties him to the club until June 2021.<\/p>\n<h2>Oldham Athletic Sign Raphael Diarra<\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\u270d\ufe0f Welcome to Latics, Rapha! <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/oafc?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#oafc<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Oldham Athletic (@OfficialOAFC) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/OfficialOAFC\/status\/1326140239715438592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 10, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Diarra&#8217;s Career So Far<\/h3>\n<p>Diarra graduated from the Monaco academy, his only appearance for the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/category\/ligue-1\/\" target=\"_self\">Ligue 1<\/a> side came from the bench against <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/category\/premier-league\/tottenham\/\" target=\"_self\">Tottenham Hotspur<\/a> in the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?s=Europa+League\" target=\"_self\">Europa League<\/a>, back in December 2015.<\/p>\n<p>He had a spell out on loan with Cercle Brugge in Belgium, before eventually leaving Monaco for US Quevilly-Rouen.<\/p>\n<p>Last season, he made <a href=\"https:\/\/www.transfermarkt.co.uk\/raphael-diarra\/leistungsdaten\/spieler\/290940\/plus\/0?saison=2019\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">20 appearances<\/a> for the French side, even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.transfermarkt.co.uk\/raphael-diarra\/leistungsdaten\/spieler\/290940\/plus\/0?saison=2019\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">captaining<\/a> them in their two Coupe de France ties. Diarra left the side in the summer and has been without a club since.<\/p>\n<p>Diarra is primarily a centre-back but has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.transfermarkt.co.uk\/raphael-diarra\/leistungsdaten\/spieler\/290940\/plus\/0?saison=2019\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">featured at right-back<\/a> for his former club.<\/p>\n<p>The 25-year-old has international experience at youth level, having been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.transfermarkt.co.uk\/raphael-diarra\/nationalmannschaft\/spieler\/290940\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">capped at U19 and U20<\/a> level for <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?s=France\" target=\"_self\">France<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Diarra formerly partnered <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?s=Paris+Saint-Germain\" target=\"_self\">Paris Saint-Germain<\/a> defender <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/aef6e670\/Presnel-Kimpembe\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Presnel Kimpembe<\/a> in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.transfermarkt.co.uk\/spielbericht\/index\/spielbericht\/2576067\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">U20 side<\/a>, with <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?s=Atletico+Madrid\" target=\"_self\">Atletico Madrid<\/a> winger <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/4dbd0916\/Thomas-Lemar\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Thomas Lemar<\/a> a part of the same squad.<\/p>\n<h3>Obvious Acquisition<\/h3>\n<p>Oldham sit 19th in the<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/category\/league-football\/league12\/\" target=\"_self\"> League Two<\/a> table and with just one side having conceded more goals than them &#8211; bottom of the league <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?s=Southend+United\" target=\"_self\">Southend United<\/a> &#8211; the addition of a defender is a fairly obvious one.<\/p>\n<p>Diarra will wear the number 22 shirt during his time at Boundary Park.<\/p>\n<h3>Early Start<\/h3>\n<p>Raphael Diarra has already made his debut for the club. He was named in the starting line-up to face <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?s=Bradford+City\" target=\"_self\">Bradford City<\/a> in the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?s=EFL+Trophy\" target=\"_self\">EFL Trophy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">52\u2018 Diarra produces a fine block to stop Scales&#8217; cross finding a teammate in a dangerous area.<\/p>\n<p>[0-1] <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/oafc?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#oafc<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Oldham Athletic (@OfficialOAFC) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/OfficialOAFC\/status\/1326263759720099841?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 10, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>He was taken off with the scores level at 1-1 in the 72nd minute.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo<br \/>\n<a id=\"8tkXUTTGQPJRxssIS6bkJg\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/187889462\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'8tkXUTTGQPJRxssIS6bkJg',sig:'fsm_9oV5EhgSut2Kndjczc_vepyIdXEx1rWJivOq3nI=',w:'594px',h:'435px',items:'187889462',caption: true ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oldham Athletic have announced the signing of former Monaco defender Raphael Diarra. Diarra, 25, joins on a contract that initially ties him to the club until June 2021. Oldham Athletic Sign Raphael Diarra \u270d\ufe0f Welcome to Latics, Rapha! #oafc \u2014 Oldham Athletic (@OfficialOAFC) November 10, 2020 Diarra&#8217;s Career So Far Diarra graduated from the Monaco [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3469,"featured_media":571835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[34,32,28],"tags":[7032,168,1297,520,262,400,7030,7031,136],"class_list":["post-571831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-league12","category-league-football","category-transfers","tag-cercle-brugge","tag-efl","tag-football-transfer-news","tag-league-two","tag-monaco","tag-oldham-athletic","tag-raphael-diarra","tag-us-quevilly-rouen","tag-world-football"],"modified_by":"Jordan Hackett, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3469"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}