Arsenal and West Ham United in transfer battle for Sporting Lisbon star Ousmane Diomande
West Ham face competition from Premier League rivals Arsenal for the signing of Sporting Lisbon defender Ousmane Diomande, according to Record.
The Portuguese newspaper reported in its print edition on Saturday [23 September], as per Goal, that Arsenal are determined to beat West Ham to the 19-year-old’s signature.
Arsenal are said to have already had a €35million (£30.5m) bid rejected by Sporting, but they are readying a fresh offer ahead of the January transfer window.
Diomande joined the Primeira Liga side in January 2022 for a fee of just €7.5m (£6.5m), having been strongly linked with Arsenal and Manchester City at the time.
Surprise.
The Ivory Coast international clearly has something about him given all the transfer speculation, but it is surprising West Ham are in the hunt.
United only recently splashed out £19m for Konstantinos Mavropanos, who is providing competition for Nayef Aguerd and Kurt Zouma.
Throw Angelo Ogbonna into the mix, and David Moyes is pretty well-stocked in that department for now.
Aguerd continues to be linked with a move away, however, and Diomande may be being eyed up as a replacement for the Moroccan.
Given Arsenal have supposedly already had a huge offer rejected, this is far from a low-risk move should West Ham indeed be in the hunt.
And when you consider he has only played 18 league games for Sporting, this does not look like a transfer worth pursuing any further on the face of it.
In other West Ham news, a talented young player has signed a new deal at the London Stadium.