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West Ham in pursuit of Dael Fry and Rob Dickie after Angelo Ogbonna injury blow
West Ham are keeping tabs on Middlesbrough centre-back Dael Fry after Angelo Ogbonna’s recent injury, according to FootballLeagueWorld.
The online news outlet claims the Irons have “made checks” on the 24-year-old Englishman, as well as 25-year-old QPR defender Rob Dickie, as they seek to mitigate the potential long-term loss of Ogbonna.
West Ham confirmed on Tuesday [09/11/21] that the Italian had suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury during Sunday’s 3-2 win over Liverpool.
As such, the Irons could be forced to dip into the transfer market in January in order to replace the dependable 33-year-old.
Dickie has impressed for the R’s this season, adding a goalscoring touch with four strikes in all competitions.
Fry, meanwhile, has missed Middlesbrough’s last six games but has played 11 times in the Championship this season, and recently departed ‘Boro boss Neil Warnock issued a comparison to Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk earlier this year.
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He said [via Yorkshire Post]: “He [Jurgen Klopp] has lost the best centre-half in the world (Virgil van Dijk) and you cannot replace them.
“You can put people in and think you can do this…But you cannot replace quality like that.
“And we cannot replace Dael. He is our best centre-half by a mile.
“We can play around him and if Dael is fit, we have got different people to fit here and there. But we cannot replace Dael. He is the complete player for me.”
Championship the way to go?
David Moyes is not afraid to go down a less conventional route to improve his Irons side.
While many clubs in and around West Ham tend to sign the biggest names out of England, Spain and Italy, the East London outfit tend to adopt a more varied approach.
They have had great success in the Czech market in recent years with the signings of Tomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal, while Alex Kral will hope to follow in their footsteps after his summer arrival.
The Championship has been another source of signings under Moyes with Jarrod Bowen, Craig Dawson and Said Benrahma all thriving at the London Stadium after being plucked from the second-tier.
There’s no reason to suggest Dickie or Fry cannot do the same.
In other West Ham news, Laura Woods has hit back at Simon Jordan’s Irons swipe in a passionate defence of Hammers fans.
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