Head of recruitment Kyle Macaulay is known to target Ligue 1 for talent and now a new target has potentially been unmasked as a star is pictured with a West Ham shirt.
Former West Ham technical director Tim Steidten was nicknamed the ‘pearl diver’ for his ability to find gems before others fishing in the football ocean.
The German promised to build an exciting West Ham team around younger, talented players but failed to deliver.
Now Graham Potter has his own pearl diver overseeing West Ham’s recruitment in Kyle Macaulay.
While not all of Steidten’s signings were bad, poor decisions were made on the profile of player squad composition.
Macaulay tasked with cleaning up Steidten’s West Ham mess
It has set the Hammers back massively and now it’s Macaulay’s job to help fix it.
That will centre around lowering the age of the Premier League’s oldest squad and bringing more dynamism and versatility the the team.
Sales are needed before West Ham can make signings this summer.
But the Hammers have a plan to raise well over £100m by shipping out a number of players including Mohammed Kudus and – if cleared of spot fixing – Lucas Paqueta to name just two.
So providing West Ham their act together with outgoings, Potter and Macaulay will have a sizeable transfer kitty.
Six exciting young players being eyed for West Ham by Potter’s recruitment guru were identified recently.
Many of his reported targets are playing their football in France – which has always been a hotbed for emerging talent.
Now a new Macaulay target has been potentially unmasked as a Ligue 1 star is pictured with a West Ham shirt.
With Kudus and Paqueta linked with moves away, Crysencio Summerville not expected to be ready for the start of the season and Luis Guilherme struggling to establish himself, West Ham will clearly need new attackers this summer.
Especially as their attack is already underwhelming even with those players alongside the likes of Jarrod Bowen.
Macaulay target unmasked as Ligue 1 star pictured with West Ham shirt?
Now it seems the Hammers may just have their eye on another Nice star.
West Ham will complete the permanent signing of Jean-Clair Todibo following his move from the French Riviera club.
And Potter and Macaulay may be planning for one of his former teammates to join him in east London this summer.
Because Nice midfielder Moise Bombito shared a picture on his Instagram Stories after their 1-0 win over Reims.
The image showed skilful midfield playmaker Sofiane Diop beaming with a big smile with a West Ham shirt draped over his shoulder.
“Mood, plus three (points),” Bombito captioned the image of Diop with this season’s Hammers shirt.
Diop can play on the left or right of the attack and also through the middle.
The French-Moroccan has six goals and five assists from just 14 starts this season.
The diminutive star is an excellent link-up player and loves a shot from distance.
Diop also draws fouls from the opposition with his skill and loves to get stuck in, often leading Nice’s press when he plays
A great dribbler who works hard for the team and whose key attribute is playing through balls to create chances, Diop’s style is similar to that of former Hammers hero Joe Cole.
Hammers move for Cole-esque Diop makes total sense
There could be an innocent explanation for Diop having the West Ham shirt in the picture.
Perhaps Todibo was back visiting his old club and gifted it to him.
Or maybe the Hammers defending has done it as part of a West Ham charm offensive to line Diop up for a summer move.
This is the kind of target West Ham fans expected under Steidten.
Now it seems it might finally be delivered by his successor.
An exciting one to watch when the window opens on in four weeks.
The 24-year-old attacker has two years left on his current Nice contract and is reportedly valued at a reasonable £10-12m.
Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox
