Newcastle Transfers: Lassana Diarra Incoming? Nobody Knows.

In the last few months, former Arsenal defensive midfielder Lassana Diarra has been apparently on the verge of moves to four different clubs, having left Lokomotiv Moscow in strange circumstances. Three of those links have come in the past week alone, with Newcastle now the latest team supposedly on the verge of unveiling him. This will come as surprising news to everyone with even a cursory knowledge of Newcastle's squad, given the number of defensive midfielders we already have - but then with Cheick Tiote going out to Africa in January for the ACN, numbers might be needed.

Lokomotiv had thrown a spanner in the works of a move to Celtic this week by refusing to release the Frenchman€™s registration, so it's hard to imagine they'll just play ball with Newcastle. They've already nixed a move to QPR this summer, and Spurs were also linked last weekend to no avail.

Diarra has apparently annoyed his former club so much that they are refusing to give him the right paperwork, scuppering any chance of a move until his contract is up or until some serious negotiations get done.

Perhaps there's something in the link between Lokomotiv and Cheick Tiote from this summer: if he's available at the right price, the Russians could be teased into allowing Diarra a move in orde to get first option on the Ivorian. And in Diarra, a ready-made replacement would already have been set-up.

After two impressive performances, there will no doubt be calls for Mehdi Abeid to be given an extended chance in the position, and it could be that he is now seen as a longer term solution, but at 29 Diarra - who cost £10m just a year ago - would be a good stand-in to add experience and help guide his development, while directly replacing Tiote's combative style.

Would you be happy to sign Diarra? Share your thoughts below in the comments thread.