Journalists recommend West Ham move for highly-rated Monaco defender
West Ham should target Monaco’s Benoit Badiashile to partner Kurt Zouma in central defence according to The Athletic’s Roshane Thomas and Alex Stewart.
The 20-year-old Frenchman has been highlighted as an excellent candidate to upgrade the long-term defensive performance at the London Stadium, and provide an answer to the club’s injury crisis.
As a left-footed centre-back, the under-21 international is seen to be a potential successor for the absent Angelo Ogbonna, and an immediate upgrade on Issa Diop and Craig Dawson.
According to Thomas and Stewart, Badiashile is an “ideal” signing and his “main strengths are picking up loose balls and blocking passes… and making a high volume of defensive actions, such as tackles and clearances”.
Sustainable January transfer
West Ham are understandably eager to address their injury problems in defence, with Ogbonna, Zouma and Aaron Cresswell all missing significant periods and threatening to disrupt the London side’s impressive form.
Although Kurt Zouma may be back sooner than expected, Ogbonna’s torn ACL should keep him out for the remainder of the season.
With the Italian turning 34 in May and coming off a serious injury it makes long-term sense for manager David Moyes to be looking to the future in his position, whether Ogbonna continues for a couple more seasons or not.
Moyes gave youngsters Aji Alese and Jamal Baptiste an opportunity in the Europa League defeat to Dinamo Zagreb but The Athletic’s experts only consider the pair to be on the fringes, and with Dawson and Diop struggling at times immediate reinforcement would help.
Although Badiashile is rated at £20million-£30million, at just 20 and with eight starts in Ligue 1 this season the outlay would appear a sustainable transfer considering the likely resale value.
Whether West Ham would be able to secure the signing is a question as the highly-rated youngster has attracted attention from some of Europe’s biggest sides and Manchester United had a ‘sizeable bid‘ rejected at the start of last season.
This may suggest that Monaco would price West Ham out of a move but 16 fewer months on Badiashile’s contract which expires in 2024 may open the door, although they may need to act fast amid reported interest from Tottenham.
For more West Ham news, a potential loan move from a Premier League rival has been reported.