There is no getting away from the fact that West Ham United have not had the best of starts this season.
In fact, following their defeat at the hands of Arsenal, the club sit 19th in the Premier League, on just four points.
However, it really isn’t all doom and gloom, as Nuno Espírito Santo has already made the team far harder to break down, and there remain some incredibly talented players in the squad.
High up on that list is summer signing El Hadji Malick Diouf, and in yet more good news, it looks like West Ham are brewing their own version of the Senegalese international.
Diouf's incredible start to the season
West Ham made a few signings this year who could go on to have great careers at the club, like Mateus Fernandes and Soungoutou Magassa.
However, if you were to ask the fans who they consider to be the best addition, Diouf would surely be atop that list.
The former Slavia Prague gem cost the East Londoners around £19m, and while that seemed like a lot of money at the time for someone so young and from the Czech league, it now looks a bargain.
The Dakar-born titan is a maurading full-back in the very best way possible, someone capable of doing the defensive work when needed, but then an incredible outlet at the top of the pitch, thanks largely to his brilliant ability to fire in cross after cross.
The game against Everton was perhaps the best example of this, as while he didn’t get the assist, it was his cross that led to Jarrod Bowen’s goal, and on another night, the 20-year-old could have had a hat-trick of assists.
This might all sound a bit hyperbolic, but the dynamic full-back has been impressing plenty of people, with one analyst making the bold claim that he’s “one of the best full-backs in the league.”
In all, Diouf looks like one of the signings of the summer so far, and as if one of him wasn’t enough, West Ham appear to be brewing a homegrown version as well.
West Ham's homegrown Diouf
West Ham have a proud history of developing and promoting some of the most exciting youngsters in England, like Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and Declan Rice.
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While he might not reach the levels of those three, another exciting prospect in the club’s academy at the moment is Emeka Adiele.
The 18-year-old gem has been on fire for the Hammers’ U21 side, and looks like he could become a player in the mould of Diouf.
For example, in just eight appearances, totalling 698 minutes, the dynamic youngster has scored one goal and managed to provide six assists.
That means the academy star is currently averaging a goal involvement every 1.14 games, or every 99.71 minutes, which is a simply sensational rate of return for someone who spends plenty of time at left-back.
Moreover, while the rate at which he’s producing goal involvements has increased this season, the teenage sensation has been a reliable source of output for some time now.
Last season, for example, he produced nine in 25 games, and the year before that, it was another nine in 25.
25/26
8
7
24/25
25
9
23/24
25
9
22/23
4
0
Finally, in addition to already having the end product, he also appears to possess the mentality to succeed in the senior game, with one analyst claiming that he is “full of confidence & tenacity.”
Ultimately, West Ham appear to have a superstar in the making in Diouf, but if they end up losing him in a couple of years, they also appear to have the perfect replacement in Adiele.