'We’re like a family here': Habib Diarra delights in good times at the Black Cats.
Formal or informal? It reveals much about Habib Diarra that his elation at being elevated from Strasbourg’s Under-17s to the first team was mixed with worry over the two French words for “you.”
Would addressing new, older teammates by using “tu” be regarded as too familiar? Ultimately, the promising talent played safe and selected the more polite “vous”. Cue wholesale laughter from the older players who told him not to be so ridiculous; he was part of the group now.
“Once I received the first call with the coach, I sat down and said to my parents: ‘Sunderland’s where I want to be; that’s where I want to play.’ England's top flight was always a ambition of mine and the coach outlined for me a clear and interesting project.”
Roughly half a decade later, Diarra is sitting in an office at Sunderland’s Academy of Light detailing why he ignored overtures from, among others, several top European clubs. His innate courtesy remains but it is apparent that the young Senegal international and uncertainty are practically unacquainted. Diarra conducts himself with the confidence befitting a player who led Strasbourg at the tender age of twenty and, only last month, returned from Morocco clutching an AFCON winners’ medal.
A Clear Project
Now that the groin issue that kept him out for much of the opening months of the league campaign healed, Diarra is on a mission to show exactly why he agreed to become Sunderland’s most expensive acquisition last summer. Pundits in France and Senegal questioned Diarra’s unfashionable choice but he knew all about Régis Le Bris’s reputation as a gifted youth coach.
“It came as no shock by the coach’s capabilities because I already knew what he’s capable of,” says Diarra. “Playing against his teams I understood he was very good, very strong in terms of strategy. He’s someone I know is helping my game progress. And although our first objective is reaching 40 points, a place in Europe is certainly a realistic target this season.”
A Unified Environment
Externally, the chilly February wind and driving rain makes Wearside look as grim as it is often depicted. Inside, things are considerably warmer. The environment is devoid of the type of strain notable at certain clubs where administrative staff are kept apart from first-team players. Diarra portrays the environment as “really natural” and commends Le Bris’s role in its formation.
“Our manager repeatedly states to us that we’re like a family here and we all support each other,” he says. “Each of us takes pride of each other.”
Freedom Within a Framework
If the structure, rigor and immense effort underpinning Sunderland’s defensive organization are a proof of the head coach’s meticulous eye for detail, Le Bris also likes his players to think for themselves. He offers his engine room players full freedom to be creative and interchange positions.
“Our manager establishes his tactics out within a structure but we have license to play within it,” says Diarra, who prefers to be deployed as a box-to-box No 8. “During matches that feels good. That freedom is so important. Granit, our skipper, guides us a lot. He’s a really big player and a superb role model.”
Path and Settlement
Diarra is using a French interpreter but his English has progressed to the point where he can understand most questions. He is now concentrating on acquiring the vocabulary to also answer them, which would be his third language. He is fluent in Wolof, the language he spoke in his youth in Guédiawaye near the Senegalese capital.
His precocious maturity helped him combat the disappointment of needing groin surgery followed by four months out of action last autumn. “Being injured so soon after arriving here was frustrating, for sure,” he says. “But it was up to me to handle the situation.”
Diarra is now looking forward to playing in this summer’s World Cup. Given Senegal have been drawn in the same group as France, a poignant reunion awaits the former Les Bleus under-21 midfielder. “I loved playing for France but my heart spoke,” says Diarra. “There’s no regrets. I was born in Senegal; it fills me with pride to play for them.”
Comparable feelings apply to Sunderland. “I’ve adapted very well,” he says. “I feel really comfortable here.”
