West Ham United have been linked with a record move for Lazio striker Keita Balde Diao.
West Ham have reportedly agreed a club record fee of around £27.5m – potentially rising to more than £30m – for Lazio striker Keita Balde Diao.
Reports from Goal in Italy claim a deal between the Hammers and Lazio has been agreed and the decision now rests with the 22-year-old, who scored 16 goals as one of the surprise packages of Serie A last season.
Keita Balde Diao
According to the report, West Ham have come to an agreement with Lazio president Claudio Lotito with just some finer details over the way the transfer payment is structured to be ironed out.
Spanish-born Balde chose to represent Senegal internationally and would join compatriots Diafra Sakho and Cheikhou Kouyate in East London.
If Balde does arrive he will have followed a similar path to Hammers midfield star and Spaniard Pedro Obiang, who was born in Spain but moved to play in Italy before his big transfer to the Premier League.
They won’t have it all their own way with the likes of Inter Milan, Chelsea and Manchester United interested.
But what can West Ham fans expect to see from the young striker? In five words; skill, pace, power, poise and potency.
Keita Balde had a goal record of exactly one every two last season with 16 in 32 games for Lazio and a number of assists.
Lazio’s Balde Diao Keita reacts
And the majority of his goals show him using intelligence to make a run for his teammates to slip a ball through and he turns on the afterburners, gets away from the opposition and either powers home a thunderous strike or produces an array of delicate, clever finishes.
If the Hammers pull this one off, there are exciting times ahead… as this video proves.
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