**West Ham defender El Hadji Malick Diouf has caused debate as he says he wants to join a ‘top 5’ club in the future.**
Malick Diouf has been one of West Ham’s shining lights this season in what has been a poor start to the 25/26 campaign. The risky £19m signing from Slavia Prague already looks like it paid off with his solid defensive displays and attacking threat.
However, the 20-year-0ld might be getting carried away too early. He has been speaking to the media while away with his country and has already spoke about leaving West Ham just four months after arriving.
_“Ideally, I see myself at a top club, among the five best in the world,”_ the Senegal international said.
_“I think I have the potential to get there through hard work. And I hope, God willing, to achieve that. I’ve only been playing professionally for two years, so I’m remaining patient.”_
Look, we obviously don’t like to hear one of our best players talking about leaving. But it’s understandable, why wouldn’t a player of his age and talent have ambitions of playing for a Real Madrid or Barcelona for example, if he didn’t it would be a bit worrying.
To say it this early into his time at the club isn’t ideal but it is what it is. We do need to become more comfortable with selling players. He’s a great player but if we can flip him after a couple of years for 3x what we signed him for, both the club and player are winners.
Diouf will play for his country in England tomorrow afternoon as the Lions face Brazil at the Emirates. Could playing at Arsenal and at the Emirates be the sort of level Diouf sees himself playing at? The Gunners are clearly not one of the biggest clubs in Europe, but they are certainly one of the five best at the moment. Could he follow Declan Rice or Mohammed Kudus in joining one of our London rivals in the future.
Lets hope not, as football fans we don’t want our players to leave for rivals. But say he joined a club like Bayern Munich, PSG or Barcelona in the future for example, he would go with a lot of fans blessings and a lot of cash to replace him with.