For some reason, West Ham, in desperate need of a new striker to help with the second half of the season, didn’t bring in any goalscoring reinforcements in January.
Jesse Lingard might help in that department, although his latest track record for Manchester United leaves a lot to be desired, but with just Michail Antonio as a recognised striker, if you want to call him that, it could get tough should the latter get injured.
One of their targets throughout the month of January was Boulaye Dia, who is currently having a good season at Stade de Reims, scoring 12 goals in the league so far.
That being said, it appeared West Ham were reluctant to get a deal done as they felt it was too soon in the player’s professional career to be spending €15m on him.
This is something the player was asked about before the end of the transfer window in an interview with Le Progrès, where the local newspaper wanted to know how he coped with the newfound interest from clubs such as the Hammers.
He said: “It’s not that hard, I just carry on as if nothing has changed. I’m not the one who deals with all that, it’s my agent and my family. But if you take stock and yes, you see it’s gone quickly. These days, they say I’m worth €15m when I was playing in National 2 two years ago. In football, the stock of a striker who scores goes up quickly and high. I’m used to it from hearing about it, thankfully, or I’d be distracted.”
As for a move, he’s in no rush and wants to make sure the next step is the right one for his career so he can continue to develop.
He said: “I don’t want to leave too quickly. Where I’ll go, I want to play. I don’t want to leave for the sake of it. I have to find a project where I’ll get better. You can’t rush. I’m not going to jump ship like that.
“The Premier League attracts me, of course, but it’s the same with everyone. It’s a league I’d like to discover, one of the best in the world. There’s a lot of big clubs, rivalry between them. If I have the chance to play there, it’ll be a reward for me.”
That hasn’t happened yet, but if he confirms his start to the campaign in the final months, then perhaps West Ham could come knocking again.
