{"id":2743,"date":"2025-07-15T21:57:04","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T21:57:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/2743\/"},"modified":"2025-07-15T21:57:04","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T21:57:04","slug":"el-hadji-malick-diouf-explains-why-he-only-wanted-west-ham-as-graham-potters-first-signing-is-unveiled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/2743\/","title":{"rendered":"El Hadji Malick Diouf explains why he only wanted West Ham as Graham Potter’s first signing is unveiled"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s official West Ham have made the first permanent signing of the Graham Potter era as El Hadji Malick Diouf is unveiled and his first words will delight the club\u2019s fans.<\/p>\n

Before confirming the signing of El Hadji Malick Diouf<\/a> from Slavia Prague, the only senior signing Graham Potter<\/a> had made was Evan Ferguson on loan.<\/p>\n

That all changed today as Diouf was officially unveiled as a new West Ham<\/a> player, the first building block in Potter\u2019s much-needed overhaul.<\/p>\n

It was just over two weeks ago that West Ham\u2019s window burst into life with news that the club had seen a \u00a317m bid for Diouf rejected by Slavia.<\/p>\n

The Senegalese left-back had shone in his country\u2019s 3-1 win over England, marking Bukayo Saka out of the game and flying forward with pace and power at every opportunity.<\/p>\n

Graham Potter\u2019s rebuild officially begins<\/p>\n

Potter has vowed to rebuild the Hammers around young, athletic dynamos.<\/p>\n

He has been true to his pledge with the addition of Diouf, who Slavia\u2019s management think is destined for the very top.<\/p>\n

West Ham saw a second bid of \u00a317.5m knocked back before eventually agreeing to a \u00a319.5m deal \u2013 with around \u00a33m of possible add-ons.<\/p>\n

The move only became possible once the Hammers had controversially sold Mohammed Kudus to Spurs for \u00a354.5m.<\/p>\n

\"ElPhoto by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Tottenham and Kudus have been goading West Ham since the first transfer deal between the rivals for 14 years.<\/p>\n

Kudus said \u2018I only wanted Spurs\u2019 in his announcement video and has since been seen on video telling the club doctor he would find Tottenham in his heart.<\/p>\n

West Ham have had the last laugh on Spurs over Kudus<\/a>, though, with fans, pundits and journalists seriously impressed by the signing of Diouf.<\/p>\n

Although there is a big downside to West Ham\u2019s Diouf deal which has come to light<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Diouf explains why he only wanted West Ham<\/p>\n

Hammers fans will hope the arrival of the 20-year-old signals the start of a new era of more savvy, exciting young signings under Potter.<\/p>\n

After 18 months of doom and gloom in east London, culminating with Kudus\u2019 move to Tottenham, Diouf signing for West Ham is a very welcome slice of good news.<\/p>\n

Especially as other clubs, including Atalanta and even Leeds, had started circling while West Ham were waiting for the Kudus cash to drop.<\/p>\n

Diouf said an emotional farewell to Slavia on Sunday before heading to West Ham.<\/p>\n

\"JudePhoto by Nigel French\/Sportsphoto\/Allstar via Getty ImagesDiouf: \u2018A lot of teams wanted me, but I only wanted West Ham\u2019<\/p>\n

A successful medical gave the all clear for contracts to be signed and the left-back-cum-wingback \u2013 who had the same number of goals and assists as Kudus last season \u2013 has now been officially announced.<\/p>\n

And Diouf has explained why he only wanted West Ham as Potter\u2019s first signing is unveiled.<\/p>\n

The new Hammer has confirmed a host of clubs were chasing his signature, but West Ham were the only club for the next step in his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really happy to be here and to make a progression for my career,\u201d Diouf told West Ham\u2019s website<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to working hard and joining my new team-mates.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were a lot of teams (who wanted to sign me), but I chose West Ham United first and I spoke with the coach and it was a good plan for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone wants to come here to play in the Premier League. I think it is a dream for everyone. When they are here, they want to make everything good. I think they also have the personality to play here and if you are young, you want to continue your progression.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are young, you have to keep your personality.\u00a0It\u2019s about the team.\u00a0The most important thing is the team, not the player. I want to say to the West Ham supporters I\u2019m very happy to be here with them. I think we\u2019ll make a very good season this year.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s official West Ham have made the first permanent signing of the Graham Potter era as El Hadji…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2744,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1915,59,1605,221,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-2743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-el-hadji-malick-diouf","tag-gb","tag-graham-potter","tag-premier-league","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}