Slavia Prague’s star defender Malick Diouf is about to join West Ham United after both clubs finally agreed on a transfer, says Slavia’s sporting director Jiri Bilek.
Diouf, who is from Senegal, has been on the radar of many big clubs for a while. Earlier this year, Crystal Palace wanted to sign him, but they couldn’t work out a deal with Slavia Prague.
Now, it looks like Diouf is heading to the Premier League to play for West Ham, and this move could be the most expensive sale ever from the Czech league!
“It’s a very interesting offer—probably the biggest transfer in our league’s history,” said Bilek, the club’s sporting director.
West Ham has been interested in Diouf for some time, but talks took a while. The deal became possible after West Ham sold Mohamed Kudus to Tottenham for £55 million.
At first, Slavia’s boss Jaroslav Tvrdík said not much was happening with the transfer. “We are patient. If we don’t agree with West Ham, we’ll just wait for offers from other clubs,” he said.
But the coach also admitted that Diouf would probably leave soon. “My guess is he’ll be gone before the first round of games,” Tvrdík said in an interview.
Later, Tvrdík posted a mysterious message online: “Two in a year.” He was likely talking about how Slavia Prague managed to sell two players to Premier League teams in one year. Earlier this year, their goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky went to Tottenham.
Now, the club’s sporting director has confirmed that the transfer will definitely happen.
Last season, Diouf scored 7 goals in 27 league matches—even though he’s a defender! He helped Slavia win the league title and qualify for the Champions League.
