Hawks sign former Paris St Germain youth defender Moussa Diarra

Towing centre half Moussa Diarra played alongside Lowe and Kabamba when Hampton & Richmond Borough won the Isthmian League Premier title in 2015/16.

Kabamba was Hampton’s top scorer that term but the 6ft 6in Diarra weighed in with a remarkable 14 goals as well.

Diarra, 30, has now become boss Paul Doswell’s fourth summer signing following the arrivals of strikers Tommy Wright and Joe Iaciofano and midfielder Godfrey Poku.

Like Poku, Diarra was a regular in the National League for Woking in 2019/20.

He had initially joined the Cards on loan in March 2019 after failing to win a regular place at Dover Athletic following a change of manager.

Woking were managed by Alan Dowson, who had signed Diarra for Hampton in 2015 from Hemel Hempstead Town.

Diarra helped Woking to promotion from the National League South via the play-offs - he scored in the semi-final win against Wealdstone - before signing a one-year contract. He started 31 of the club’s 38 league games in 2019/20, with one sub appearance as well.

Diarra is the experienced centre half that Doswell last week spoke about needing to bring in for next season’s National League South promotion challenge.

Dean Beckwith, who is due to celebrate his 37th birthday next month, was among the seven players recently released by Hawks.

Doswell told The News last week: ‘We’re looking at someone in that 28-30 range with experience but have still got a few years left in them.

‘I think for a centre-half, 28-30 is probably the best age.

‘We’re looking at a centre-half and after that it will be a splattering of four or five younger signings.'

Diarra is that centre half, so now the focus will be on bringing in younger players - among them ones released by Football League clubs with a point to prove.

French-born Diarra started his career in the youth set-up at Paris Saint-Germain, before moving to the UK in 2011.

After arriving in England, Diarra played for St Albans City before moving to Hemel and Hampton.

After helping Hampton win promotion to the sixth tier of English football, he moved north to join National League club Barrow in the summer of 2016.

In two seasons at Holker Street, Diarra established himself at the heart of the defence - being an ever present in the league in 2016/17 and missing only eight of the 46 matches the following season.

In his second season at Barrow he regularly played in the same team as Bedsente Gomis, now of course a Westleigh Park team-mate.

Diarra stayed in the top tier of non-league football when he joined Dover in the summer of 2018.

But he barely made a league start after the man who signed him, Chris Kinnear, was sacked as boss of the Kent club in October 2018 and replaced by Eastleigh manager Andy Hessenthaler.

In a bid to get regular games, Diarra linked up again with Dowson the following March.

Doswell said today: ‘Moussa was one of our main targets for this season, and probably the marquee signing defensively.

‘I watched him play for Woking many times and he had a fantastic season with them. He’s a fantastic leader on the pitch, and defensively he wins his headers in both boxes which is really important at this level.’