After a month stuck in place, West Ham United are finally making some forward steps as the Premier League outfit await their first signing of the summer transfer window.
But, of course, this comes at a cost.
It is probably no coincidence that West Ham made a bid for El Hadji Malick Diouf as Tottenham progress in talks for Mohammed Kudus.
That West Ham United ideally need to sell before they buy this summer is fairly common knowledge. Should the deal go through – a highly-controversial deal, albeit, as Hammers fans vent their fury at David Sullivan and co – the upside of losing Kudus to such a bitter rival is that Graham Potter should have a £60 million windfall to spend how he and Kyle Macaulay so wish.
A potential deal involving Celta Vigo defender Oscar Mingueza has suddenly jolted into life alongside that of Diouf, TBR Football correspondent Graeme Bailey reports.
The duo sit right at the top of the club’s defensive wishlist.
Mingueza, meanwhile, is a deal which would see La Liga giants Barcelona benefit financially, as well as his current employers in Galicia.
It may be telling that, as the sale of Kudus edges closer, West Ham appear to have made their first substantial bid of the off-season. Fabrizio Romano claims that Slavia Prague turned down a £17 million proposal for left-back Diouf.
Barcelona could earn £15m from West Ham United if Oscar Mingueza joins
Mundo Deportivo report that Oscar Mingueza has a £17 million release clause in his Celta Vigo contract.
Due to terms agreed upon when the versatile defender moved to the Balaidos in 2022, Barcelona stand to take home a cool 50 per cent of that transfer fee.
The five-time European champions have already secured a not-insignificant sum on the back of Jean-Clair Todibo’s permanent move to the London Stadium.
West Ham paid £32 million to keep Todibo in the capital last month. Barcelona earned a reported £6.4 million thanks to their 20 per cent sell-on clause.
And should Mingueza join Todibo in a claret and blue backline, Barca will bank £15 million from the Hammers in the space of a few short weeks.
Considering the seemingly never-ending financial uncertainty which continues to hang over Camp Nou like a particularly nasty cloud in an otherwise sunny sky, insisting upon sizeable sell-on clauses suddenly feels like inspired business.
Mingueza and El Hadji Malick Diouf are West Ham’s top full-back targets
Capped four times by the Spanish national team, Mingueza’s fine form secured a surprise return to European football not long after Celta Vigo were battling relegation at the wrong end of the table.
The Galician outfit last played continental football in 2016/17. They narrowly lost out to Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United in the semi-finals of that season’s Europa League.
While the aforementioned Diouf has made his name as one of the best young left-backs around – the Senegal star had Bukayo Saka ‘in hell’ during last month’s shock 3-1 away to England – Mingueza is comfortable playing all across the backline.
The La Masia graduate scored four goals and provided six assists from 34 appearances last term, switching effortlessly between the right and the left-hand side of the Celta defence.
Mingueza can also be seen filling in at centre-half on occasions. He hits a mean free kick too, as Villarreal found out during last August’s 4-3 thriller on the Castellon Coast.
“Mingueza? He could play more matches as a centre-back,” former Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman said back when the now-26-year-old was stepping in for the legendary Gerard Pique at the Camp Nou.
“He has shown that we can count on him. He has given us a good impression.”
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