West Ham are interested in 22-year-old midfielder Scott McTominay and have made an initial approach to Man United, according to Sky Sports journalist Kaveh Solhekol.
This comes after reports had linked Man United with a move for Hammers centre-back Issa Diop.
The Evening Standard reported that West Ham were refusing to sell Diop to United for £45million before Sky Sports (live transfer blog, Monday, 8.34pm) said that they would relinquish him for £60million.
There were also reports of a United player being involved in the deal, with the Sun claiming United had offered Phil Jones – West Ham weren’t interested in this and reportedly asked for Anthony Martial instead.
Solhekol has now claimed that Diop is happy at West Ham and there is no indication that the McTominay enquiry is anything but a separate deal at the moment.
Issa Diop’s representatives due to have talks with West Ham next week. Diop happy at West Ham despite Man United interest. West Ham have asked about availability of Man United midfielder Scott McTominay
— Kaveh Solhekol (@SkyKaveh) June 19, 2019
OPINION
We really doubt that United will have any interest in letting McTominay go. He was one of the few United players who seemed to care last season and the 22-year-old was given a new lease of life by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Back in early May, the Mirror reported that Solksjaer was going to build his team around him next season and saw him as an “automatic starter”. McTominay was rewarded earlier this year with a new four-year contract and United have the option for another year – a sign of how highly they regard him. With Solskjaer actively looking for young, hungry players – he’s already added Dan James from Swansea this summer – it would seem highly unlikely that he would sanction the sale or loan of one of their youngest, hungriest players from last season. McTominay only made three Premier League starts under Jose Mourinho up until he was sacked on December 18, and he was subbed off at half-time in one of those. He enjoyed double the starts under Solskjaer and will be expecting to see more first-team game time at Old Trafford next season.