The Pride of the Nation continues to strengthen its team with an eye on developing young athletes. Diarra, 21, arrives to compete in the development league and join the professional squad, joining Matheus Leoni, Caio Brandão, Felipe Motta, and Emanuel as the Mais Querido's leading players for the youth competition. A native of Mali, Africa, the 2-foot-7.2 power forward played the last LDB for Minas Gerais and averaged 8.8 points and XNUMX rebounds per game.

"I'm very happy to be joining Flamengo. I hope to honor the Mantle and bring great joy to the Flamengo fans. You can expect a lot of drive and determination from me on the court. I have a lot to learn here," said the new Pride of the Nation prospect.

Diarra joins Kojo Mensah as the only two players of African descent to have worn the Regata Sagrada. Kojo, born in the United States but with roots in Ghana, won the NBB5 championship with Mais Querido.

"Flamengo has made a small change to its team building strategy, focusing investment on a smaller number of players. This makes it necessary to invest in young athletes. We are ramping up our talent development process. In addition to the internationally renowned players we brought in, we have several prospects who will be honed and could finish the season close to the rest. Diarra, being an African player, also piques our interest due to the internationalization of the Flamengo brand," analyzed Guilherme Kroll, the club's vice president of Olympic Sports.

The Malian has already been regularized and will be part of the squad that will face São José tonight (21), at 20 pm, in the interior of São Paulo.