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West Ham United are interested in a deal to bring Boulaye Dia to the London Stadium in the January transfer window.
What’s the talk?
That’s according to a report by Italian media outlet Cronache Salerno (via Sport Witness), who claim that Rob Newman is preparing an ‘assault’ for the centre-forward ahead of the winter market, with US Salernitana reported to be hoping to make the 26-year-old’s loan from Villarreal CF a permanent move before selling him on for a figure in the region of €17m (£15m).
However, the report goes on to state that the Hammers are not alone in their pursuit of the Senegal forward in January, with Everton, Leeds United and Leicester City having also been credited with an interest in Dia in recent weeks.
“Dangerous”
Considering just how impressive Dia has been for both club and country this season, it is not difficult to understand why Newman and David Moyes would be interested in a deal to bring the centre-forward to the London Stadium this winter – especially considering the Irons’ goalscoring woes in the Premier League, having found the net on just 12 occasions in the current campaign.
Indeed, over his 14 Serie A appearances – only ten of which have come as starts – in 2022/23, the £17.5m-rated talent has been in devastating attacking form, bagging six goals, registering two assists and creating one big chance for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 1.1 shots, making 0.9 key passes and completing 0.8 dribbles per game.
These returns have seen the £29k-per-week striker average an extremely impressive SofaScore match rating of 6.88, currently ranking him as Davide Nicola’s joint fourth-best performer in the Italian top flight.
The 26-year-old also caught the eye over his four outings at the World Cup this winter, hitting the back of the net once, in addition to taking an average of 2.0 shots – 0.8 of which hit the target – making 0.3 key passes and completing 0.3 dribbles per game – playing a crucial role in his side securing qualification to the knockout stages of the competition.
Indeed, the 23-cap international’s performances in Qatar saw him earn a significant amount of praise, with Nizaar Kinsella stating his belief that Dia was one of Senegal’s most “dangerous” players in the 3-0 round of 16 loss to England, while Dean Jones stated of the Salernitana hitman in a recent interview with GIVEMESPORT:
“He’s exciting and he was always going to be one of the players expected to be a breakout from the World Cup. He’s very confident, he’s got a lot of belief in himself and the people around him believe that he is ready for the next step in his career and that the Premier League is possible.”
As such, with Gianluca Scamacca and Michail Antonio having scored a mere two league goals each so far this season, it would indeed appear as if Dia would be an “absolutely fantastic” – in the words of Marlon Harewood – signing for Newman to get over the line this winter, as the Senegalese sensation would add some much-needed firepower to Moyes’ attacking arsenal.
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