Wenger: Lassana Diarra panicked

Arsène Wenger believes that Lassana Diarra panicked when he left Arsenal to join Portsmouth in January, and the Arsenal manager has defended his decision not to strengthen the squad during the January transfer window.

Diarra had only been at the club since last August following his move from Chelsea where the midfield player had become frustrated at the lack of first-team opportunities.

“I came to the conclusion that Diarra could not cope with the fact that he was behind the other players here in midfield. I thought the best option was to let him go because I already had Denilson, Abou Diaby and Gilberto Silva. It was a congestion. I bought Diarra in the summer [2007] because I thought Mathieu Flamini might leave at the end of the season and if he was able to be patient, he would get his chance. He wasn’t capable of that. With Euro 2008 in mind, he panicked.”

Source: TimesOnline