QPR confirm arrival of Stephan’s assistant Diarra

QPR have confirmed the appointment of Alou Diarra.

The 43-year-old Frenchman, who played for Charlton and West Ham, has returned to London as new R’s head coach Julien Stephan’s assistant.

He has been given the title of first-team coach – the position of Xavier Calm, who was Marti Cifuentes’ assistant, has not yet been resolved.

Rangers on Tuesday formally announced the departure of Cifuentes, who was placed on gardening leave in April.

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That paved the way for former Rennes and Strasbourg boss Stephan to be announced as Cifuentes’ successor.

“It is a pleasure to be here and part of a new, exciting project with QPR,” Diarra told the club website.

“Working with players in the Championship, a very tough league, is very exciting. We will be working hard to develop them and improve them.”

Diarra’s playing career also included a spell at Liverpool, although he didn’t make a first-team appearance for them – and had just two league outings for West Ham.

The former France international’s other clubs included Bayern Munich and French sides Marseille, Nice, Lens, Lyon, Bordeaux and Nancy.

Since retiring from playing, Diarra has had coaching roles at Lens and Troyes.

Analyst Rudy Cuni, who worked closely with Stephan at Rennes, will also be joining.

The first signing of the Stephan era could be Reading defender Amadou Mbengue, while Australian right-back Kealey Adamson is set to join from A-League club Macarthur.

Rangers are also looking to sign Kwame Poku, having agreed a compensation fee with Peterborough for the winger.

Poku’s contract expires this summer but, at 23, he is too young to move on a free transfer under the Bosman ruling.

There will be outgoings as well, probably starting with Hevertton Santos.

A number of clubs are interested in taking Santos back to Portugal, where he played for Estrela prior to his move to QPR and was last season on loan at Vitória – who are one of the interested clubs but do not want to pay the fee of around £1.7m agreed for a potential permanent move when he joined them on loan in January.