Reported Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United target M’baye Niang has had no qualms about discussing a move away from Rennes this summer but, as Christophe Dugarry tells RMC, it is now time to ‘shut up’.
This Senegal international forward might have been enjoying the best and most prolific campaign of his career before the Ligue 1 season was curtailed in April, but that does not mean he has not been courting controversy too.
Niang is no stranger finding himself in hot water
And, speaking after Tottenham were linked with a player they have been watching since 2011 by L’Equipe in May, former France international Jerome Rothen predicted that Niang would ‘fall into oblivion’ at a bigger club than Rennes.
Now, it is the turn of 1998 World Cup winner Dugarry to send a warning to a former AC Milan starlet.
“The advice I want to give him to the kid is shut up!” the former Barcelona striker says after Niang admitted he was flattered in the inquiries has received of late.
“He doesn’t have to comment on that (his interest in a move away). Let your agent work. Be quiet.
“I think he’s doing it wrong, stop expressing yourself all the time. Because if you end up staying at Rennes, you will have your tail between your legs and you will pass for a moron.”
FootMercato reported on Wednesday that both Newcastle and West Ham have joined the race for a former Watford loanee, who is valued at £18 million after scoring 15 times in 2019/20.
But perhaps comparisons, worrying ones at that, can be drawn with a certain Mario Balotelli.
Like the enigmatic Italian, Niang has found a club that is perfect for him in Ligue 1.
And with Balotelli now once again at the centre of a storm at Brescia, two years after enjoying the best spell of his journeyman career at Nice, perhaps Niang would be better off staying where he is happy and trusted.
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