French outlet L’Equipe are reporting that Newcastle United are placing a bid for West Ham United defender Issa Diop. The speculated fee is between £8.3m and £10.3m.
However, Football.London aerestating that the Hammers will reject any approach from Newcastle. The Frenchman is getting consistent game time at West Ham due to a couple of injuries to the other centre backs.
Angelo Ogbonna is out for the rest of the season, and Kurt Zouma is suffering a hamstring problem.
With Newcastle looking at the likes of Botman and Carlos, the alleged bid comes out of left field
Newcastle has already acquired their first signing of the window in the form of Kieran Trippier. They signed the right-back from Atletico Madrid for £12m and they have no intention of stopping there.
The two names that have appeared frequently in the media for being on the Magpies’ radar are Sven Botman and Diego Carlos. Lille have rejected a bid for Botman (The Telegraph), as have Sevilla for Carlos (The Athletic). But, it’s said that Newcastle have offered an improved bid in an attempt to land Botman (The Athletic).
So with Newcastle pursuing these players, it came as some surprise to some fans that a potential bid for Diop has been placed. What makes it even more surprising is the fact West Ham are short of defenders, so selling one of the few available ones would be unlikely for them to do.
Perhaps Newcastle are just attempting to pursue backup options in case they cannot get Botman or Carlos. However, it seems they will have to try somewhere else. The Hammers don’t want to sell, especially when they themselves are low on centre-backs due to injury.
The Toon Army have their sights set on Botman clearly. He’s their number one target for the January window (The Athletic), with a Ligue 1 winners medal at the age of 21, you can certainly see why.
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