LASSANA DIARRA is the man at the centre of what could be a REVOLUTION in how football runs and operates.
The retired France international, 39, is a blast from the past for many football fans but hit the headlines after a landmark court ruling over transfers.
What happened with Lassana Diarra's court case?
Diarra sued Fifa after it upheld a £16MILLION that was imposed by his former club, Lokomotiv Moscow, following his sacking for allegedly boycotting training over a pay dispute in 2014.
Diarra's case was heard by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg, the highest court in Europe.
In a landmark decision, Diarra WON the case after his legal team argued that Fifa had broken European labour laws by refusing to issue the International Transfer Certificate which would have allowed him to join another club and exercise his rights as a professional.
The ECJ ruling has now declared current regulations are in breach of EU Law on the free of movement of people.
Diarra's lawyer was Jean Louis Dupont, the man who had previously transformed the sport in the mid-1990s by successfully working for the introduction of the Bosman ruling, which allowed players to move for free once their contract was up.
The Court ruled: “The rules in question are such as to impede the free movement of professional footballers wishing to develop their activity by going to work for a new club.
“Those rules impose considerable legal risks, unforeseeable and potentially very high financial risks as well as major sporting risks on those players and clubs wishing to employ them which, taken together, are such as to impede international transfers of those players.”
What are the ramifications of the ruling?
Potential ramifications could be huge depending on the full judgement, which will be published later today.
If the Court has made a strong ruling, it could effectively declare the entire current system is in breach of EU Law.
That would see Fifa losing its current authority over the transfer system and allow players the right to break their contracts and change clubs with impunity.
In turn, that would end the current “trickle down” system where many smaller clubs are reliant on transfer income.
Such an outcome would lead to big stars being able to hawk their services for free but for huge wages, allowing the wealthiest clubs - including the bulk of the Premier League - the opportunity to hoover up the best talent.
Who is Lassana Diarra?
Lassana, known as 'Lass' during his career, was born on March 10, 1985, in Paris to Malian parents.
His first club was Paris FC but he bounced around academies, playing for Nantes, Le Mans and Red Star 93 before joining Le Havre aged 18 in 2003.
Diarra had an outstanding first season in senior football, impressing in Ligue 1 and breaking into the Francer Under-21 team.
He was then spotted by Chelsea, with chief scout Gwyn Williams dubbing him the new [Claude] Makelele - the Blues spent £1million to secure his signature.
Diarra spent three seasons at Stamford Bridge and was named the 2005-06 Young Player of the Year - despite playing just seven matches.
He played 31 games in all and was part of the side that won the League Cup and FA Cup in 2007, before moving to Arsenal.
Diarra spent just one season in north London, playing only 13 matches, before a move to Portsmouth where he played 32 matches in two seasons, impressing despite struggling with injuries.
Diarra then completed a shock move to Real Madrid for around £19m and became one of their key players over the next four seasons, playing 117 games between 2008 and 2012, as well as winning the Copa del Rey in 2011 and La Liga in 2012.
A move to Anzhi Makhachkala followed before a move to Lokomotiv Moscow - which is where he fell foul of coach Leonid Kuchuk.
Diarra was allegedly asked to take a pay cut and then is said to have refused to turn up to training - Diarra was eventually sacked and later ordered to pay a huge fine and missed a season of football.
He then had spells at Marseille and Al Jazira before finishing his career with Paris Saint-Germain, where helped Unai Emery win the treble in 2017-18.
An international for France, Diarra won 34 caps and was named in the 2010 World Cup squad and the Euro 2016 squad. However, he did not play any tournament football due to a blood disorder in 2010 and injury in 2016.