Monday, October 31, 2011

El-Hadji Diouf signs for Doncaster Rovers

Senegal international striker El-Hadji Diouf has joined Doncaster Rovers on a three-month deal, subject to clearance.

El-Hadji Diouf signs for Doncaster Rovers

The 30-year-old, who was released by Blackburn in the summer, has joined the Championship club after talks with boss Dean Saunders.
The two-time African Footballer of the Year previously played for Liverpool, Bolton, Sunderland and Rangers.

Diouf told Sky Sports News: "I'm focused on doing my best for this club and after that we'll see what happens."
Rovers are joint bottom of the Championship table with only nine points from 14 games.
"It's the challenge. I signed to help the team, do my best and play my football," added Diouf, who said he had been training with both Wigan Athletic and West Ham United.

"I'll try to make myself fit and why not try to help this team stay up?
"I could go to the Middle East or somewhere but I wanted to come back to a big level like the Championship."

Diouf has scored 21 international goals in 69 appearances and will help cover Doncaster's current shortage of strikers.
James Hayter was the only recognised centre-forward in the squad for Saturday's 1-1 draw with Coventry.

Billy Sharp missed the game due to a family problem, Chris Brown is only just returning from a knee injury and Jon Parkin has returned to Cardiff following his loan at the Keepmoat Stadium.
Diouf is the latest high-profile player to join Rovers.

Former England goalkeeper Chris Kirkland signed on-loan from Wigan earlier in October - but only lasted a week after getting injured.
They also signed ex-Tottenham and Blackburn defender Pascal Chimbonda in September and have taken Herita Ilunga on a three-month loan deal from West Ham.

Saunders has defended the club's transfer strategy and insists signing Diouf is not a gamble.
He said: "I know he has been training at West Ham and Wigan so I've monitored that hoping they weren't going to sign him.
"West Ham offered him a deal I think and we have managed to persuade him to come and play for us.

"He's a brilliant signing for us. He's won African Player of the Year twice, which is no mean feat considering some of the players they have got over there.
"He played for Rangers last season and hopefully he can come in and try to help us.
"Hopefully he likes it and he stays. We cannot afford to pay ridiculous wages so we have signed him at a reasonable wage for this short period and hopefully he will get us some points."

Diouf, who has courted controversy throughout his career in England, joined Liverpool from Lens for £10m in 2002.
He moved to Bolton in 2005, making 88 appearances at the Reebok Stadium, before switching to Sunderland's Stadium of Light a year later.

Diouf then joined Blackburn under Sam Allardyce's management in 2009 before finishing last season on loan at Rangers.
He picked up a league title winner's medal while in Scotland but upset a lot of Celtic fans along the way, most notably when he was sent off after the final whistle in Rangers' Scottish Cup defeat at Parkhead in March.

El-Hadji Diouf signs for Doncaster Rovers

Diouf had been on trial with Allardyce's West Ham earlier this month but the Hammers boss decided not to offer the Senegalese a short-term deal because of his lack of fitness and opposition amongst the club's fans to a move.

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