Manchester United News: Mame Biram Diouf inks season-long loan deal with Blackburn Rovers
Manchester United striker Mame Biram Diouf has signed a season-long loan with premier league side Blackburn Rovers. The Senegalese striker joined United in January 2010, although both the clubs signed a deal in July 2009. The player was loaned back to his previous club Molde FK, before officially joining the Red Devils in January 2010.
Diouf belongs to the same club as Manchester United legendary striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Manager Sir Alex Ferguson expected great things from the 22-year-old and made an instant impact when he made his home debut. In the dying moments of the matches, the striker looped the ball over Burnley FC goalkeeper Brian Jensen and scored his first ever goal on his first match at Old Trafford. The striker, however, couldn’t score any more goals, despite making 5 more appearances. Earlier this month, Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed that only Federico Macheda and Javier Hernandez were the only youngsters that were part of his plans for the coming season, meaning that Danny Welbeck and Diouf would be most probably loaned out.
Diouf had an impressive time with his former club Molde FK where he scored 33 goals in 75 appearances. The striker played in the Norwegian league and was therefore rather unknown to the world before joining Manchester United. The player wore the 32 number shirt which was most recently worn by the Argentinean striker Carlos Tevez.
The deal is expected to give the 22-year-old more experience in the English Premier League. It’s more of mutual agreement as the Blackburn Rovers were also looking to add some new faces to their forward line. Their previous striker Benni McCarthy left the club and inked a deal with West Ham United in the winter transfer window last season. Plus, Franco Di Santo is all set to return to Chelsea owing to the expiration of the season-long loan deal.
Benni McCarthy joined Rovers back in 2006 and has since scored 52 goals in 140 appearances. Rovers had a great amalgamation of players but left the club owing to personal reasons. Di Santo made less of an impact for the Rovers in his season-long loan as he only managed one goal in over 20 appearances. The Chelsea man is just 21 years of age and is currently busy adapting himself to the toughness of the EPL. Diouf would therefore be a good inclusion to the side and is expected to play in the starting XI. The striker knows how to score and would be learning important things from his loan term with the Rovers. Arsenal Jack Wilshere joined Bolton last season and owing to his impressive performances for the side, manager Arsene Wenger confirmed that Wilshere would be part of his plans for the coming season.
Diouf is expected to play for his new club in the pre-season friendly, when Rovers play the Hearts today. The player also has some international obligations on Tuesday when he plays for Senegal on Tuesday.
Diouf may well be disappointed by the loan agreement as he claimed Manchester United to be his dream club. When he officially joined the Red Devils, the striker stated that playing for United was his lifelong dream and hoped to make a quick impact for the Reds. The player was confident that he would prolong his stay with Manchester United, but couldn’t do so as he was loaned to the Blackburn Rovers. Whatever may well be the case, Diouf would be hoping to improve his game and make an impact at the Rovers this time round. The player would be expecting more minutes in the English Premier League as he joined the league a few months ago. Six appearances may well be too little to judge a player, who has been impressive while playing in the Norwegian league. Diouf has a bright future ahead of him and it would only be a matter of time before he gets back to his goal scoring form.
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