Manchester United seem determined in their pursuit of West Ham United defender Issa Diop but face the dilemma over the price tag of the 22-year-old.
According to a report from the Daily Mirror, the Red Devils will have to conjure up as much as £75m for the French International who is apparently on the Hammers ‘NO’ transfer policy for the 2019 summer window.
The saga which has rolled on for some time now has witnessed some outrageous demands from the London based club. This points to the Irons’ reluctance of letting their star defender leave ahead of the 2019/20 season.
Should they cough up the fee?
United have been linked with a plethora of world-class defenders from extreme age categories covering everyone in between from Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly (27) to Ajax’s Matthijs de Ligt (19).
Many other names in Leicester City’s Harry Maguire (26), Inter Milan’s Milan Skriniar (24) and recently Diop (22) have been added to the list, and they all had one thing in the common — undoubted quality at an extravagant transfer fee.
The centre-back spot has been a worrisome issue at Old Trafford for some time now. With an inconsistent pair of Chris Smalling and Phil Jones, an injury-prone duo of Eric Bailey and Marcos Rojo, Victor Lindelof remains the only decent option for Red Devils boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Diop, who arrived from Ligue 1 a year ago for a fee of £22 million, has integrated quickly into the Premier League. The former Toulouse defender is only 22 years of age and featured 38 times for West Ham in all competitions last term.
The French International, who is both young and boasts tremendous fitness levels, sounds like a perfect man to partner the Swede in the United back four. He possesses every single quality missing in the current defensive regime at Old Trafford.
Recently, we have seen Liverpool splashing similar money on Virgil van Dijk and turning themselves into a powerhouse of European football.
It’s understood that the scenarios and concerns remain different at the two clubs but signing a promising youngster who has already proven his mettle in the Premier League doesn’t seem like a bad idea.
Besides that, he is technically astute and fits in with the Norwegian manager’s style of building the play from the back. And it is understood that United don’t suffer from the scarcity of funds and signing a promising young talent sounds like a calculated risk which United must take to turn their fortunes around.
Stat Courtesy: Transfermarkt
That price is ridiculous he’s not a caliber player as Ruben Dias who is value at 60 million.