West Ham and Leeds United £22m target banned from training as transfer race hots up

West Ham and Leeds United transfer target El Hadji Malick Diouf has been banned from training by Slavia Prague with the club’s manager working to help facilitate the player’s exit.

The Hammers are in the market for a full-back this summer with Vladimir Coufal and Aaron Cresswell both leaving the club as free agents. Diouf is known for his ability to add plenty of attacking impetus on the left flank and could fit perfectly into the team’s wing back system.

Hammers News carry the latest on the pursuit of Diouf, amid claims that the club had submitted multiple bids for players last week in a bid to kick their transfer window into action.

Those offers are reported to have included an official move for Diouf. The outlet claims that West Ham have seen two bids rejected by Slavia Prague, with neither £17 million or £17.5 million enough to see a transfer given the green light.

West Ham target banned from Slavia Prague training

Leeds Live claims that West Ham face competition from Leeds United and Nottingham Forest over the transfer but the London club will be confident that they are in the driving seat thanks to their relationship with the Czech side. The Hammers previously signed Tomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal from the club, who went on to become important players at the London Stadium.

Now, Diouf has been banned from training with his current team as transfer talk continues. That is not thought to be due to a fallout and rather a means of preventing any injury that would scupper a move.

Slavia Prague manager Jindřich Trpišovský explained: “We all suspect that the transfer will happen. It’s a matter of time. It’s being handled by the club management. Malick has an individual programme, we don’t want anything to happen.”

“He is a player who has extraordinary quality, he will have it in the future. It is necessary that Slavia’s demands are satisfied. We take it as if we are without him.”

Slavia Prague are said to see the finances gained from Diouf’s sale as too important and will sanction a deal, but want to make £21.5 million from the sale.

Graham Potter looks to add youth to Hammers squad

At just 20 years old, Diouf would be a significant injection of youth into the West Ham squad after the departures of 35-year-old Cresswell and 32-year-old Coufal. Speaking about his desires to have a more youthful team in April, Graham Potter said: “At Brighton, we left the club fourth on the table, with, in my opinion, the best pound-for-pound squad in the Premier League. If we can achieve the same at West Ham, we can be whatever you want to say. So you've got a winning team with value on the pitch.

“If you can create that, then I'm happy. Three years' time, if we can do that together then that's fantastic. An equivalent of Caicedo, an equivalent of Mac Allister, an equivalent of [Leandro] Trossard, an equivalent of [Robert] Sanchez, an equivalent of [Lewis] Dunk, an equivalent of [Pascal] Gross, at West Ham — that's £200m of sales — [Yves] Bissouma, Ben White, Marc Cucurella, Pervis Estupinan, those players. If you can win and sell players then you should be happy with that performance. No?”

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