Boulaye Dia: West Ham targeting Reims striker to replace Haller

Martin Macdonald

• Updated: 19 May 2021 15:43 BST
• 2 min read

West Ham are reportedly targeting Reims striker Boulaye Dia to replace Sebastien Haller, who recently left for Ajax.

Following Haller’s departure, the Hammers have been linked with a host of centre-forwards, including Moussa Dembele, who joined Atletico Madrid from Lyon on Wednesday.

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Though negotiations are reportedly yet to take place, West Ham have identified Dia as the man to come in and bolster their forward line, which at the moment only really has Michail Antonio as a recognised centre-forward.

The Haller transfer has left West Ham caught cold slightly with regards to signing a replacement, with manager David Moyes confirming that he wasn’t expecting to lose the Frenchman in January.

“We got an offer we weren’t expecting, it certainly wasn’t planned to lose Seb (Haller) in this window,” admitted Moyes.

“He has been great for us because he has won us a few games recently but I think it’s a really good move for him.

“It’s an offer that if maybe we didn’t (agree) now, it wouldn’t come up again so we just felt it was the right thing to do.

“We’ve now created room to bring players in – are we ready for that? Not really, but we’ll do what we can and bring in what we think are the right players.”

The Hammers do have plenty of time left in the current window to potentially strike a deal for Dia, who has been in excellent form for Reims this season.

The 24-year-old has scored 12 goals in 16 starts in Ligue 1 this season, which is already better than his eight-goal tally across all competitions in 2019/20.

One issue that West Ham face is that they are unlikely to be the only suitors for Dia, with Newcastle allegedly interested in bringing him to the Premier League too.

Though he has been prolific in Ligue 1 in 2020/21, Reims have struggled, winning just five of their opening 19 matches.