Graham Potter’s West Ham United are far from the first Premier League outfit to express an interest in Slavia Prague’s star left-back El Hadji Malick Diouf.
And while Hammers News understands that things are not quite as advanced as some in the media reported on Friday – El Hadji Malick Diouf was allegedly heading to England for a medical at some point this weekend – the Senegal international has emerged as Kyle Macaulay’s priority left-back target.
West Ham United’s head of recruitment has approved deals for both Diouf and Celta Vigo’s Oscar Mingueza.
West Ham saw an opening bid of £17 million rejected a few days ago, with talks continuing in the aftermath. Slavia Prague are reportedly holding out for closer to £21.5 million.
Now while many Hammers supporters are excited about a ‘Tomas Soucek 2.0‘ or another Vladimir Coufal-shaped success story – two modern-day fan favourites who arrived in London from Prague – there are still a few key steps to be taken before Diouf is wearing the claret and blue kit.
Unproven and until-recently rather unknown, but the extent of the interest from England and abroad highlights the size of the coup West Ham seem likely to pull off.
Just ask Jaroslav Tvrdik.
El Hadji Malick Diouf celebrates after England v Senegal - International Friendly
Photo by Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Offside via Getty Images
Crystal Palace and Chelsea wanted West Ham United target El Hadji Malick Diouf
Slavia Prague’s president is a man well known to West Ham.
As mentioned above, both Soucek and Coufal joined from the reigning Czech champions back in 2020.
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Tvrdik also spoke freely and frequently about West Ham’s pursuit of Abdallah Sima in 2021, insisting that Slavia were demanding £17 million before accepting a much lower fee from Brighton and Hove Albion.
There may be a temptation, then, to take his words at face value. Tvrdik called Sima the second-coming of Thierry Henry at one point, after all.
Yet, as Slavia rebuff an offer of £17 million, two things are certain; Tvrdik is demanding a considerable fee for a footballer with plenty of Premier League-based admirers outside of the London Stadium.
“I hope he doesn’t leave. We quite consciously put a high price tag on him,” Tvrdik told E Fotbal during the January transfer window.
“There were two specific offers from Crystal Palace worth 15 and 17 million euros, but those are not the amounts we are targeting. We imagine that the figure will start with two.”
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Given that 20 million euros translates to £17 million pounds – the figure West Ham rejected – Slavia are not merely looking for a ‘figure [that] will start with two’ these days.
There is still a chance that Crystal Palace, who saw two bids of their own turned down in the winter, could return to the table and rival West Ham for El Hadji Malick Diouf’s signature.
The FA Cup holders want a more attack-minded left-back to rival the reliable Tyrick Mitchell, as emphasised by their pursuit of Croatia flyer Borna Sosa.
Tvrdik also indicated that the price he would sell for may be dictated by the size of the club looking to do a deal. He confirmed that Chelsea had shown their interest too, while Liverpool have frequently been linked.
iSport add that Diouf has been a target for Nottingham Forest, Leeds United, Brighton and Serie A challengers Atalanta too.
“If Liverpool and Chelsea, who were also interested in him, came with an offer of around 17 or 18 million euros, I would probably hesitate to approach it differently,” Tvrdik said. “From the perspective of promoting the club or the player’s interest.
“If Chelsea comes, we wouldn’t keep anyone. One has to admit that the Czech league and Slavia have some limits. Even PSG, when it comes to breaking the bank, won’t keep their player and let him go to Real Madrid.
“We are part of a football chain and we are not at the top of it.”