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Diarra plots summer departure

Image: Diarra: Keen to find regular first-team football

Mahamadou Diarra plans to be on the move this summer after enduring a frustrating time at Monaco.

Midfielder looking for Monaco exit after less than six months

Mahamadou Diarra plans to be on the move this summer after enduring a frustrating time at Monaco. The Malian midfielder returned to France, where he has previously turned out for Lyon, during the January transfer window. Having slipped down the pecking order at Real Madrid, he hoped a second spell in Ligue 1 would offer him the opportunity to take in regular football. He has, however, struggled to break into the first team at a club languishing at the wrong end of the table and feels he now needs to make another fresh start. "I will not stay next season," Diarra said on L'Equipe's website.

Difficult

"It is hard for me right now. I hope to find a club where I can have more playing time. "When I signed here, I expected that it would be a difficult sporting situation, but I did not expect it to be so hard on a personal level." Diarra has made only nine league appearances for Monaco, with a lacklustre showing in a 3-2 defeat to Nice in April seeing him drop back out of the first-team picture. "I paid dearly for that defeat," he said. "But I am still ready to play."