OPINION
West Ham are reportedly interested in signing Le Havre midfielder Pape Gueye in the summer transfer window and it appears as though director of football Mario Husillos could unearth a gem if the snaps up the 20-year-old.
According to French newspaper L’Equipe, Leicester, Watford and teams from Ligue 1 are also in pursuit of Gueye, who has started to become a regular first team player for Ligue 2 side Le Havre this season.
The France Under-19 international has made 11 appearances in all competitions for this season, with the bulk of those coming in the last few weeks as he has started six out of the Normandy club’s last seven Ligue 2 fixtures.
Gueye appears to be a player with a lot of potential and one that West Ham should definitely push the boat out to lure to the London Stadium in the summer transfer window.
It is understood that the defensive midfielder will enter the final year of his contract at the end of the season and Le Havre are determined to agree fresh terms with him in a bid to fend off interested clubs like the Hammers.
However a player from the French second-tier should not be too hard to convince to join a Premier League club and Le Havre may want to cash in while they can, so it does seem as though he could be on the move this summer.
Leicester’s interest in Gueye is particularly interesting because they have a great recent history of signing players from France.
N’Golo Kante joined the Foxes despite being relatively unknown in England while he played for Boulogne and Caen and Riyad Mahrez arrived at the King Power from Le Havre in 2014.
Le Havre have also seen the likes of Paul Pogba, Benjamin Mendy, Steve Mandanda, Lassana Diarra and ex-West Ham star Dimitri Payet spent a lot of their football education on their books and Gueye could be the next name to add to that star-studded list of names.
Husillos could really be on to a winner here if the Hammers sign Gueye in the summer.