West Ham United have had a few offers for their talented young centre-back Issa Diop, which they have rejected. But they seem to be preparing for the eventuality of Diop leaving in this window or in the future as they are currently interested in signing another young centre-back, Stuttgart’s Ozan Kabak.
Hurriyet (via Sport Witness) are reporting that the Hammers are one of the many clubs interested in signing the 19-year-old, while the likes of Bayern Munich and AC Milan are also interested in signing the youngster. Kabak joined Stuttgart from Galatasaray in the January transfer window for a fee of around €11 million. The report states that the young defender has a release clause of €15 million at the German club.
Kabak’s agent has reportedly met with AC Milan technical director Paolo Maldini over a possible transfer to the Italian giants.
With a move to the Premier League still possible, let us take a moment to note the talented defender’s strengths and weaknesses.
Strengths
Kabak, in his short stint at Stuttgart, has shown that he’s not scared of playing on the big stage and has made a smooth transition from Turkish football to German football. The teenager is a quick player who gets to opposition attackers before they realise it, closing them down and trying to dispossess the ball from the attacker. Kabak is aggressive in the tackle, which is one of his key strengths, much like his idol Sergio Ramos, while he also reads the game very well from the back.
Kabak played the full 90 minutes in each of the 15 games that he played for Stuttgart in the Bundesliga, registering an average of 2.2 tackles and 3.5 clearances.
He has been praised for being a player who is much more mature than his age and has the calmness to operate under pressure. Kabak is also a good header of the ball and is a threat in both boxes. In the 2018-19 season, Kabak scored thrice in 15 games for Stuttgart.
Weaknesses
One area that Kabak will have to strive towards is to give away lesser fouls. He gave away an average of 1.4 fouls a game in the Bundesliga, some of which were cheap fouls, which could have been avoided.
Another area where he can improve is his passing. In his eagerness to move the ball upfield quickly, Kabak gives away the ball to the opponents easily, which could lead to a counter-attacking situation.