West Ham United defender Issa Diop still tempted to leave club
Issa Diop could still leave West Ham United this summer despite Nayef Aguerd’s latest injury bumping him up the order, according to L’Equipe.
The 25-year-old is considered as the fifth-choice central defender at the London Stadium after the Moroccan’s arrival from Stade Rennes but Aguerd now faces time on the sidelines with an ankle injury.
That could mean that Diop is more needed than before with Craig Dawson, Kurt Zouma and Angelo Ogbonna all ahead of him in the pecking order when they are all match fit.
Fulham could offer him a fresh start however and are in talks with West Ham to try and sign the Frenchman but the Irons are holding out for £17million from the Cottagers.
With Aguerd’s injury though, David Moyes may have to keep Diop even though his contract at the club comes to an end following the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign.
Let him go
If you need your fifth-choice central defender to be an experienced individual then you need to reassess how you build a squad for the Premier League.
West Ham cannot afford to have one of their precious registration slots taken up by someone who is unlikely to play outside of an injury crisis and particularly when they have European encounters to consider too.
With the academy at Moyes’ disposal at Rush Green, there has to be a youngster who is knocking on the door of the senior team that could be considered fifth-choice because he would be unlikely to feature at all.
That could have been Aji Alese but the Hammers have gone and sold him now so he is out of the question which may be another reason why the manager is reluctant to let Diop go, especially as Dawson claims he is an “excellent” player [Football London].
But considering he is probably going to leave at the end of the season anyway, you would think that the club would want to try and recuperate some of the funds they spent on him now.