West Ham should hold on to Issa Diop amidst interest from PSG
French giants Paris Saint Germain are interested to sign West Ham centre-back Issa Diop and could offer up to £50 million to secure his services, claims The Sun.
Diop made his move to the London club from Toulouse this summer in a £22 million deal and has taken the Premier League by storm with some solid displays in the heart of the defense.
Although West Ham have managed to keep only a solitary clean sheet this term in the Premier League, Diop’s consistent performances at the back haven’t gone unnoticed. He has established a good understanding with another summer signing Fabian Balbuena at the back and the duo has played a key role for the Hammers this term.
Manuel Pellegrini was on a spending spree this summer after taking over the reins from David Moyes and signed as many as nine new players to bolster his squad. However, West Ham’s campaign hasn’t gone according to the script so far and the Hammers have been able to register only a couple of victories in the Premier League this season.
It looked as if West Ham were going to pick up all three points against Leicester City this weekend but were denied by Wilfried Ndidi’s late equaliser. The Hammers sit 13th in the standings and Pellegrini won’t be too disappointed with that after they lost their first four games this season.
Along with Declan Rice and Marko Arnautovic, Issa Diop has been a standout performer for the Hammers in the ongoing campaign. Pellegrini went into the first two games against Liverpool and Bournemouth with the combination of Balbuena and Angelo Ogbonna at the back but the duo failed to establish any sort of communication.
In fact, Ogbonna was involved in a defensive howler that allowed Callum Wilson to run past five defenders to score an equalizer. Quite clearly, the Italian has not only shown poor levels of composure but has also looked off the pace.
Diop was slotted into the back line alongside Balbuena for the third game against Arsenal and the 21-year-old Frenchman did not have the best of starts to his Premier League career, scoring an unlucky own goal. However, he showed signs of promise and Pellegrini did the right thing by persisting with him.
And he has proved that he is worth every penny that the manager spent to bring him to the club. His best display came against Manchester United where he stood at the back like an unbreakable wall and absolutely dominated the opposition with his physicality and aerial prowess.
To get a deeper insight into his performances, Diop averages 2 tackles and 1.6 interceptions per game. It is hard to find defenders who are good in the tackle as well as efficient readers of the game but it seems like West Ham have already found one. Diop has been good with his positioning and once again saved the day for the Hammers against Leicester as the home team piled up the shots on goal following Mark Noble’s sending off.
Diop is an excellent athlete who tends to cover ground very quickly and is an excellent reader of the game in the air. His aerial ability is always an asset to the team while defending set-pieces. In fact, he averages 2 successful aerial duels per game this term in the Premier League. To add to that, he is also comfortable on the ball and averages 27.3 passes per game with a success rate of 87.6.
West Ham do not have too many quality options at the back. Angelo Ogbonna is too inconsistent while Reece Oxford, a promising youngster, does not have much experience of playing top flight football even though he had his breakout season a couple of years back.
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Suffice to say, Issa Diop is definitely an indispensable component of West Ham’s backline. Along with Fabian Balbuena, he will have to play a key role if the Hammers are to finish in the top half this season.
