FC Barcelona is looking for an adequate replacement in case Ivory Coast international and Barcelona midfielder Yaya Toure (27) decides to leave the club in the summer transfer window. Toure’s agent, Dmitri Seljuk, has indicated that his client might leave despite his happiness at the club. The lack of playing time this season has forced Toure to reconsider his future.

There are always a couple of names linked to Barça listed as Toure’s most likely successors. The most frequent name is Argentina’s national team captain, Javier Mascherano (25), from Liverpool. According to web site footballpress.net, there is another name which is quite high on the list as a replacement: French international midfielder Alou Diarra (28) from Bordeaux.

Diarra is an experienced player who has already played for German outfit Bayern Munich from 2000-02 (though he was loaned out to Freiburg in the 2001-02 season), and was signed by Liverpool in 2002. Diarra, however, never managed to play a competitive match in Merseyside as he was loaned out to Le Havre in 2002/2003 and Bastia in the  2003/2004 season. Diarra came to Bordeaux from Lyon after a 1 year spell in 2007.

Diarra can play as a defensive midfielder or as a center back if needed.