The sale of Mohammed Kudus to Tottenham Hotspur, in theory, frees up the funds West Ham United needed to bring Slavia Prague full-back El Hadji Malick Diouf to the Premier League.
Whether things prove to be quite that simple, though, only time will tell.
It is a week and a half now since Slavia Prague rejected West Ham’s first bid for the Senegal international. The Czech champions are reportedly looking for a fee in the region of £21.5 million.
Head of recruitment Kyle Macaulay has approved the pursuit of El Hadji Malick Diouf – he is the club’s number one left-back target now – and West Ham United should return to Slavia with their pockets full of cash after Tottenham completed the signing of Mohammed Kudus on Thursday evening.
Yet, in new quotes provided on Friday, Slavia president Jaroslav Tvrdik admits that an agreement with the Hammers remains elusive for the time being.
Jaroslav Tvridk says no agreement between West Ham United and Slavia Prague over El Hadji Malick Diouf
Tvrdik rates Diouf even higher than Tomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal; two modern day West Ham icons who arrived at the London Stadium from Slavia Prague half a decade ago.
The Senegal star had Bukayo Saka ‘in hell’ when the Lions of Terana became the first African team ever to win away at England in June.
Diouf is a combative one-v-one defender and a regular source of goals from full-back too. He scored seven times during the 2024/25 season. And, at the age of just 20, he ticks plenty of boxes for a West Ham side determined to reduce the average age of Graham Potter’s stumbling squad.
Tvrdik, though, insists that there is still a way to go before Diouf settles into the spot vacated by Aaron Cresswell.
“We believed that negotiations with West Ham would come to a quick end,” the president says, somewhat surprised to see the discussions drag on into mid-July. “And we asked coach, Jindrich Trpisovsky, not to use Diouf in training [due to fears that an injury would scupper a potential transfer].
“We have not yet been able to reconcile our ideas with those of the English club. We will wait for further offers.
“It is possible that, if [a move to West Ham] does not happen, we will enter into negotiations with the player to stay.”
Malick Diouf was nowhere to be seen as Slavia Prague took on Hungarian outfit Diosgyori VTK and Aris Limassol of Cyprus in pre-season friendlies this week. Trpisovsky believes he has ‘outgrown’ the relatively small pond that is Czech football, albeit Slavia can offer something the Hammers cannot; Champions League football in 2025/26.
Diouf could replace Emerson Palmieri as Graham Potter green-lights sale
West Ham have been linked with ex-Arsenal benchwarmer Nuno Tavares at Lazio too. For now, Emerson Palmieri remains at Graham Potter’s disposal as well despite the manager making it clear that he is not part of his plans.
Experienced left-back Emerson saw a move to Real Betis collapse recently, while Hammers News understands that links with the aforementioned Lazio are wide of the mark.
“Life is dynamic. We are in contact with several clubs. I still think [Diouf] should be a potential priority for West Ham,” Tvrdik said on Tuesday. “If the interest is not as we imagine, we are prepared not to sell him.
“We generally say that offers from the Premier League are not [often] rejected, but it has to be a good offer. We are aware of his high quality.
“[Diouf] is perhaps the player with the greatest potential in the last ten years. We are ready to sell him, but we are [operating] based on some objective data. We are very aware of his price and we are patient.
“We will wait to see if an offer comes that appreciates the quality of this player. However, there is also the option that Malick Diouf will play in the Champions League with Slavia.”
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