By Daniel Feliciano

8th Jan, 2022 | 6:00am

West Ham want to sign Marseille striker Bamba Dieng - report

West Ham want to sign Olympique Marseille striker Bamba Dieng this summer in a deal worth up to £15million, according to La Provence.

The Hammers are interested in signing a striker during the January transfer window to help ease the goalscoring burden on Michail Antonio and provide competition, with the Jamaican the only recognised centre-forward in the squad.

Now according to French media, their attentions have turned to the Senegal international.

The belief is that any deal will cost around €18m (£15m) and say that David Moyes’ side are one of four Premier League clubs interested alongside Newcastle, Aston Villa and Crystal Palace.

While the report states that there have been no offers made to the Ligue 1 club yet, they claim the interest in the 21-year-old player who was once described as ‘skilful‘ by Didier Drogba is ‘real’.

Tough

While there is little doubt that the Hammers’ interest in the player is real, it will likely be a tough deal to pull off in January.

Marseille are currently second place in the table, 10 points behind Paris Saint-Germain and four goals in 14 appearances this season mean he is a very important player for them.

They won’t want to lose him mid-season when they have a very real chance of making it into the Champions League next season, so West Ham would have to make them an offer that they find very hard to refuse.

Dieng’s versatility would allow him to be able to get added minutes in the West Ham side even if not as a striker, but the fact he would likely be signed as an alternative to Antonio means he may not be so keen on a move.

This is a transfer that is possible in January, but in reality West Ham will likely have a few targets above Dieng on their shopping list for the winter window.

In other West Ham news, Hammers dealt blow in pursuit for ‘tremendous’ striker as club don’t want to sell.