According to reports in the Daily Mail, Championship high-flyers Cardiff City are lining up an audacious January bid for West Ham United striker Diafra Sakho, who is rated at £12m by the east London outfit.
The Daily Mail says that the Senegal international is still keen to leave the London Stadium after seeing a move to Ligue 1 outfit Rennes fall through towards the end of the summer transfer window, and the Bluebirds are keen to bring him to Wales to boost their promotion push.
Neil Warnock’s men currently sit second in England’s second tier, and the experienced manager believes the 27-year-old centre-forward could spearhead their bid to return to the Premier League after they were relegated in 2014.
Meanwhile, Newcastle United’s poor run of form continued as they were beaten 3-2 at home by Leicester City at St James’ Park on Saturday evening, meaning they have now taken just one point from the last 21 available in the top flight.
Now just two points above the bottom three, Rafa Benitez will be thinking about who he can add to his squad in the New Year, and bringing Sakho to Tyneside could prove to be a shrewd move.
Here are three reasons Newcastle should hijack Cardiff’s bid to sign the Hammers attacker…
Goals
While injuries have often hampered Sakho’s West Ham career – especially in the last 18 months – the Senegal international has shown that he can score goals on a consistent basis when he is fit and given a regular run in the starting XI.
In his first season with the Irons he netted 10 times in 23 Premier League matches, while he followed that up with five in 21 the following campaign.
While he may have only scored twice since the beginning of the 2016/17 campaign, they have come in just 14 appearances – the majority of which have come from the substitutes’ bench.
Newcastle have only netted 16 times in 16 top flight games this term, and if the Magpies can keep Sakho off the treatment table and give him plenty of minutes you get the feeling that he will score goals for them.
Point to prove
According to the Daily Mail, Sakho has made it clear that he is looking to leave West Ham for a fresh start, and he will certainly have a big point to prove at his next club if he does go in January.
With the 2018 World Cup six months away the 27-year-old will be fighting to secure a spot in the starting XI for Senegal, which would mean that he would be looking to score plenty of goals if he did move to St James’ Park.
Additionally, even in the absence of Andy Carroll and Javier Hernandez through injury in recent weeks the centre-forward didn’t get the nod from David Moyes up top, with the Scot preferring Andre Ayew or Michail Antonio.
That surely wouldn’t have pleased him.
Price tag
Takeover or not, it is unclear how much money Benitez will have to spend during the January transfer window.
It is unlikely to be a huge budget, and given the Spaniard looks like he needs to bring in three or four players to boost his squad he may be looking for individuals who will provide good value for money.
Given Sakho is 27 years of age and has 17 goals in 61 Premier League matches for West Ham, Benitez may feel that spending £12m on the striker could prove to be something of a bargain buy – especially if the Senegal international scores the goals that keeps the Magpies up.
Do you agree, Magpies fans? Let us know below.
