Slavia Prague’s El Hadji Malick Diouf is said to be edging towards a move to West Ham United this summer.
On Friday, Czech Republic’s iSport reported the Hammers increased their bid after Slavia Prague rejected their initial €20m offer. Senegal’s Wiw Sport also stated West Ham’s first bid was rejected but they’re edhging towards a move after tabling a ‘substantial’ offer.
According to iDnes, the 20-year-old is attracting a lot of interest, ‘especially from West Ham’.
After claims of West Ham sealing the signing of El Hadji Malick Diouf emerged last week, iDnes contacted Slavia Prague president Jaroslav Tvrdík for an update. He made it clear that at this moment in time, an agreement has not been reached to sell the player.
When asked whether it’s certain that El Hadji Malick Diouf will leave this summer, he said: “I’m not at all convinced of this, although there is a lot of interest in him. The club that has been spoken about has come the furthest, but we haven’t reached an agreement.”
The newspaper asked the president about Slavia Prague reportedly rejecting a €20m bid for the player. He says the club have received two bids for the Senegal international, but both are short of their €20m request.
“There was a misunderstanding. There was talk of an offer that we should have rejected, but that information is false,” Tvrdík explained.
“There were two offers on the table, but neither of them exceeded €20m in the basic transfer price. Meanwhile, we have been saying for a long time that the price for Diouf will be just over €20m. And we do not have such an offer yet.
“I think it would be an extraordinary opportunity for him [to stay] and his value could increase even more. All options are open. Either we will receive an offer that cannot be refused, or we will discuss with Malick about his continuation with us.”
If West Ham or another club want to buy El Hadji Malick Diouf, they have to pay €20m to Slavia Prague.