West Ham are now leading the race to sign Marseille striker Bamba Dieng in the January transfer window according to a report from The Mirror (January 5th, page 53).
The Hammers’ need for a new striker this month has already been well-documented.
We should have signed acentre-forward this time last year when we sold Sebastien Haller to Ajax. Alas, we failed to do so though.
There can be no excuses this time. David Moyes absolutely must get it right and bringing a new striker to the London Stadium will be pivotal to our hopes of finishing inside the top four this season.
The Scot will undoubtedly take his time as per usual but with only three Premier League games to play between now and February 8th, he can afford to be patient.
The Hammers have plenty of names on our radar but it appears as though we are keen on one man in particular…
West Ham lead January transfer race for Dieng
The Mirror reckon that the Hammers are in pole position ahead of Newcastle to sign the 21-year-old Marseille ace this month.
He has been described as the new Didier Drogba by Get Football News France.
We believe that Dieng is a very exciting young talent but the honest truth of the matter is that West Ham could and should be setting our sights a lot higher than the Marseille starlet.
We already have talented young forwards for the future in the form of Sonny Perkins and Armstrong Okoflex.
Dieng has plenty of impressive attributes but there’s nothing to say that he is actually any better than either of those two players mentioned above.
The Senegalese forward has bagged just four goals and one assist in 20 games in all competitions for Marseille so far this season (Transfermarkt). He could cost around £15 million as well according to The Sun. That’s far too much money to be paying for someone who is totally unproven in the Premier League.
David Moyes needs to bring in someone capable of really pushing Michail Antonio for his place in the team over the next few years. Dieng obviously isn’t the man for that particular job at this moment in time.
West Ham should be looking to sign an established, prolific striker for the here and now.
Read also: ‘Such a bad decision, stupid’: West Ham fans baffled as official club news emerges
Dieng might be a smart acquisition for the long-term. At the moment though, Moyes has far more pressing issues on his agenda.
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