Football journalist Ryan Taylor has been speaking on his latest YouTube video to discuss the possibility of West Ham United landing a new striker on the final day of the January transfer window.
And according to the insider, the club have been in contact with the agent of Marseille striker Bamba Dieng over a potential late deal.
Is a new striker a must for West Ham?
Yes
No
The 21-year-old striker has made 14 appearances in Ligue 1 this season, with a lot of his game time coming from the substitutes’ bench (via Transfermarkt).
With the French side believed to be looking to balance the books, the Senegalese striker could leave today for around £8m, but West Ham would face the obstacle of dealing with a player currently away on international duty.
As Senegal have now reached the semi-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations, Taylor had the following to say on a potential deal for the striker:
“There’s been talks between West Ham and the agent of Bamba Dieng over a potential deal. He’s the kind of profile they’re looking at as a secondary striker to sort of support Michail Antonio.
“Dieng remains a player of interest, but [I] spoke to his agent earlier, and he told me that they just received an offer to go [to] Turkey, but that’s the only concrete bid on the table – but they’ve rejected it.”
TIF Thoughts on Dieng to West Ham United…
With West Ham returning from the short break with three competitions to compete in, we think it is absolutely essential they find some support for Michail Antonio today.
While Taylor went on to say that a deal is unlikely to take place before Monday’s deadline, the youngster has shown this season that he is capable of finding the back of the net in his limited role at Marseille, which will be exactly what David Moyes will look for in a backup striker.
Antonio’s injury record has been far from kind to the 31-year-old in the past, and with the Hammers still looking to clinch a top-four spot, we think it would be a big risk to go into the remaining months with just one senior striker.
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