The conflict in these reports comes from the fee Pompey will receive for one of their best players to ever wear the shirt. The local rag says that reports in Spain have reported the fee to be a paltry £9 million but other questionably reliable sources state a fee of between £13 million - £18 million.
A £9 million fee for a French international midfielder who would walk into the starting-line up of most teams in the world would be an absolute farce. Considering an inferior player in Sulley Muntari left for £12.7 million you would think Pompey would be holding out for more than just £9 million.
I think every Pompey fan has accepted that Diarra will be gone in January and most would rather see him move abroad to a club deserving of his talents rather than a domestic Premier League rival such as Tottenham or Man City.
And I wouldn't begrudge him the move to possibly the biggest club in world football. He's been honest with us from the start and not only will it be good for him but it would mean Pompey could boast selling one of their own players to Real Madrid, even if we would find it on the verge of impossible to replace him.
I'm mainly hoping that the quoted £9 million from the Spanish sources is just a downpayment and the club receive much more in total. If Pompey have accepted the first offer that has come to them, rather than invite a bidding war for their best player then that worries me about our true financial situation.
I'm sure we will find out the truth sooner or later, but one thing is for sure and that is that Lassana Diarra will not be a Portsmouth player for much longer and may never play for the club again.