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Report Issa Diop Gonna Sign For West Ham? Oh Yes He Is!

nevillenixon's picture
Submitted by nevillenixon on Tue, 19/06/2018 - 13:20

West Ham are set to confirm both the £7 Million signing of Lukasz Fabianski from relegated Swansea and the signing of phenomenal central defender Issa Diop from Toulouse within the next couple of days. Diop underwent a medical at the Spires Hospital yesterday ahead of completing his €25 Million move from the French Ligue 1 club on a five year contract. Everton and Sevilla were among the other clubs to have shown interest in 6ft 3ins Diop, but West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini was keen to get the deal done quickly and it seems he has got his man. At 21 years of age and having played for France at all levels up to U 21, Diop represents the future and will have a tremendous sell on value, apart from that and more importantly he is a winner!

Having already signed Fulham full back Ryan Fredericks on a free transfer, West Ham have agreed a £7 Million three year contract with Swansea for Fabianski but will delay confirmation of the deal until tomorrow as the 33 year old former Arsenal keeper is in the Poland squad facing Cheikhou Kouyate's Senegal today. New director of football Mario Husillos is believed to have been the crucial element in bringing both Diop and Fabianski to the London Stadium, he is also believed to be interested in Fabianski's Swansea team mate central defender Alfie Mawson.

Diop made 41 appearances in the 2017/18 campaign and will only get better, his arrival will surely mean the end of Hammers' interest in Chris Smalling from Manchester United who is seven years older and looks to have reached the best standard that he ever will, failing to recapture the form that he previously had as a youngster. The signing of Diop represents a considerable investment, and given the lack of funds available to Manuel Pellegrini probably means an end to the club's interest in signing Felipe Anderson unless a 'very special' deal can be put together. Anderson's reported wage demands are just too rich for a club of West Ham United's limited resources and the opinion is that signing Anderson could be a step too far at this moment in the club's time frame.

Realistically Manuel Pellegrini and Mario Husillos have only just begun to address the gaping chasm in the team's make up, essentially the defence and links to the midfield, once there is a firm balance achieved then El Pel will be able to 'blood' youngsters from the Academy, he will definitely need to do so, as he will only be operating within a fraction of the budget that he had available at Real Madrid or Manchester City. The only cloud on the horizon is how much if any revenue can be brought in to the club via player sales, as yet it appears that there have not been any offers for the players who have been deemed surplus to requirements.

As we go 'live' with this article the futures of: Andy Carroll, Jordan Hugill, Sam Byram, Winston Reid and of course Robert Snodgrass are all in transition, there is also the distinct possibility that Adrian San Miguel will seek a move to Real Betis as a direct result of Fabianski arriving at West Ham, Adrian had to put up with losing his starting place to Joe Hart, and although he was eventually selected ahead of Hart hehas made it very clear that he doesn't want to be a bench warmer citing his ommision from the Spanish squad at the World Cup 2018 as a result of not having enough game time. In an ideal world Hammers' would have both Adrian and Fabianski in their squad but it remains to be seen if such a situation is tenable, after all the club did not spend £7 Million on Fabianski just for fun!

Fabianski will more than likely be on show when Poland take on Cheikhou Kouyaté's Senegal later today, so now there will be two players for Hammers' fans to be anxious about during the game. - Ed

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mcbikeman's picture

Was worried about the smalling rumour but hopefully signing Diop will put that to bed..

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126 users have voted.
moore 6 legend's picture

No disrespect to Fabianski,but do you think we missed a trick not signing Rui Patricio,i hear wolves snapped him up yesterday..

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89 users have voted.
mcbikeman's picture

I rmbr llama in goal he was pants IMO but that club are losing a lot of players who have ripped up there own contracts so possible bargains there to be had

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151 users have voted.

I just don't get why we are signing a 33 year old keeper? And to make it worse they are giving him a 3 year contract! I'd say he will probably only have 1 decent season in him before his reactions go. Not only that we are paying for him! Is this Swansea getting their own back on us for ayew?

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111 users have voted.
moore2come's picture

He's a direct replacement for (had no) Hart and will imo have to fight for his place alongside Adrian. Competition for places is important and whilst Adrian can rightly feel aggrieved to have missed out on the WC due to the "play as bad as you want" deal that Hart was on he can't just expect to be No.1 hopefully he'll stay and work harder and if it comes off great, if not then he can at least know he was given a fair crack of the whip.

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111 users have voted.
asheshammer's picture

What I don't get is the "West Ham are too poor to afford X" mentality. We had the fourth highest after tax profit in the league last season. Could go higher if we actually ever perform at the level that was promised.

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122 users have voted.
North Bank Hammer's picture

Very much a chicken or egg situation. The team can’t possibly perform to the level promised without a very large budget. The board needs to work on getting the club out of debt rather than keeping it in debt to score interest payments. A positive attitude would see there is more to be earned by creating a situation where greater investment is possible.

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126 users have voted.
mcbikeman's picture

Sound good but I would love us to forget them and sign two English midfielders Wilshire on a free yes we all no the injury probs but so has Pastore so if one then I prefer jack..then a total no brainer as it sems Loftus cheek now realises he has too leave chelski to get reg first team football..there loss should be our gain...ship out kouyate and obiang if need be so lets see us flex our muscle and buy british

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144 users have voted.
mcbikeman's picture

by organising the public flogging of the board at the O.S for say a tenner a head...all those fans on the season ticket waiting list would pay double I expect to see that...easy money Dicksy

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133 users have voted.
North Bank Hammer's picture

But a manager has to choose his type of players or he won't be able to set his team up to play the game he wants his team to play. Most have been glad to get Pel so we just have to trust him.

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154 users have voted.

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