Is there any player, anywhere across the whole of the Premier League, who West Ham United supporters fear more than Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka?
The numbers speak for themselves
In his last seven Premier League meetings with the Hammers, Bukayo Saka has scored four goals while providing five assists. Arsenal’s flying number seven hit a brace as West Ham United were demolished 6-0 on their own London Stadium turf in February 2024.
In the very next meeting between the two capital city rivals, Saka was on hand to set up Gabriel Magalhaes and Leandro Trossard, all the while helping draw two penalties and converting one himself.
“The job that he’s doing and the improvement he’s making every day is frightening,” Jamie Redknapp said during Sky Sports’ post-match autopsy of a West Ham slaughter.
But there is, perhaps, one left-back the Hammers could turn to as they look to banish Saka from their nightmares; El Hadji Malick Diouf the Maggie to Bukayo Saka’s Freddie Krueger.
El Hadji Malick Diouf celebrates after England v Senegal - International Friendly
Photo by Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Offside via Getty Images
West Ham United target El Hadji Malick Diouf outshone Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka
In Freddie’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, heroine Maggie Burroughs banishes the sleep-stalking villain by dragging him from his nightmare hellscape into the real world, before delivering the final blow via a pipe bomb.
OK, El Hadji Malick Diouf did not go quite that far when Senegal stunned Thomas Tuchel’s England in Nottingham last month.
But a forward who frequently ascended to superhuman levels up against West Ham certainly looked a little more mortal, even strangely vulnerable, up against the Slavia Prague sensation.
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According to Fabrizio Romano, West Ham made a £17 million bid for one of the best young left-backs on European soil this week. The 2023 Conference League champions are expected to continue those discussions, as Hammers fans pray for another Tomas Soucek or Vladimir Coufal from a club who have given them two of their best pound-for-pound signings of the decade.
🚨⚒️ EXCL: West Ham had a proposal rejected in the recent days for El Hadji Malick Diouf worth around €20m.
SK Slavia Prague value the player at higher price with more clubs keen on signing him. pic.twitter.com/aXoiRFtRn0
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 1, 2025
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Diouf, who The Guardian say has a firm admirer in Graham Potter, is valued closer to £20 million. A gap in valuations, certainly, but a very bridgeable one.
Some may argue that Diouf’s ability to stop Bukayo Saka in his tracks is worth the £20 million investment alone. Especially for a West Ham side who have conceded nine goals in their last two London Stadium outings against their neighbours from the north.
‘Exceptional’ Diouf shone as Senegal stunned Thomas Tuchel’s England
To quote football podcaster and pundit Ronaldo Brown, Saka found himself ‘in absolute hell’ as Diouf’s Senegal became the first African team ever to defeat England; the Three Lions no match for their Teranga cousins.
Not only did Diouf complete a pair of tackles and interceptions each, Saka did not get the better of him in a single one-v-one battle. And, as you might expect for a man who scored seven goals from full-back last season, the 20-year-old also provided three key passes while creating one ‘big chance’ in a performance Scout Scope described on X as ‘clean, composed and effective’.
In fact, had his teammate’s finishing been a little sharper, Diouf could have ended his breakout night with two assists from a pair of Aaron Cresswell-esque deliveries.
Saka, then, might not be too pleased to learn that Diouf has his heart set on a move away from the Czech Republic, and to a more competitive division.
“My time to leave is approaching,” he told Idnes in January. “I know it. God will show me the way.”
“He is an exceptional player. I can’t imagine him staying in the Czech league,” agrees Jindrich Trpisovsky, Slavia Prague’s head coach.
“I have to thank him here because he had the opportunity [to leave] in the winter. He had good offers. We asked him to finish the season, and he really postponed his departure to a big club for half a year, which is admirable.
“Malick and his agent behaved fantastically.”
The message coming out of the Czech capital, then, is that there is certainly a deal there to be done if West Ham are willing to add a few more million onto their initial offer.
And, who knows, perhaps this is the beginning of the end for Bukayo Saka’s reign of terror at the London Stadium.