Premier League sides Crystal Palace, Leeds, and West Ham United are all keeping tabs on Marseille and Senegal striker Bamba Dieng for a January transfer.
Premier League clubs including Crystal Palace, West Ham, and Leeds are showing interest in out-of-favour Marseille forward Bamba Dieng for a possible move in the January transfer window, according to 90min.
The 22-year-old only broke into Marseille’s first team last season after arriving at the French club in 2020. He enjoyed an outstanding campaign last season, with seven goals to his name in under 1000 minutes of action, playing across the front line.
However, there’s nothing to write home about his performances this season, as the Senegalese international has been starved of game time ever since falling out with new Marseille boss Igor Tudor last summer. He has been afforded just over 150 minutes of action under the former Udinese and Verona manager, contributing with a goal and an assist.
The player is reluctant to pen fresh terms with Marseille, and with him set to enter the final 18 months of his contract, a move away could be on the cards, with the Premier League emerging as the likely destination. The French outfit do want to retain Dieng, but 90Min reports that as many as five Premier League clubs are keen on securing his services.
The fleet-footed attacker, who has been compared to Sadio Mane in his homeland, hit the radars of Premier League clubs earlier this year.
Leeds United were among the interested parties, and they came agonisingly close to landing the 22-year-old on transfer deadline day in the summer after they had missed out on primary target Cody Gakpo.
With a private jet set to fly for Leeds, Dieng chose to stay in France as Nice came knocking at the last minute, but he failed the subsequent medical with the Ligue 1 club and returned to Marseille.
Victor Orta publicly criticised the player and said he had felt let down by the decision to stay in France at the eleventh hour. Leeds made a last-gasp attempt to sign Wilfried Gnonto from FC Zurich, and the 19-year-old has been a success since his switch to the Premier League.
However, it appears the Whites’ sporting director has set aside the bad blood and restored Dieng to his transfer wishlist. With Patrick Bamford really struggling to find any sort of consistency through niggling injury issues, the Peacocks are in desperate need of another vibrant striker option to complement Rodrigo and the young guns, and Dieng certainly fits the bill thanks to his blistering pace and goal-scoring ability.
Like Leeds, Crystal Palace have been monitoring Dieng’s progress for a long time now and reportedly held talks with the striker last January. Interestingly, Dieng is a product of the FC Diambars setup in Senegal that was co-founded by Palace boss Patrick Vieira in 2000.
Dieng would be another exciting addition for Palace as they look to bolster their attacking options even further, and he certainly has the pace, versatility, and energy to suit Vieira’s tactical system at Selhurst Park.
As for West Ham, while strikers Michail Antonio and Gianluca Scamacca have been in and out of form up top this season, their main problems lie in the chance creation department rather than goal-scoring, and they certainly do not need another forward.
