West Ham United have rightly prioritised signing a holding midfielder to replace Declan Rice this summer, but the need for a new striker is surely very high on David Moyes' list of targets.
Who are West Ham interested in signing?
Denis Zakaria appears to be on his way to the London Stadium from Juventus – offsetting the £105m departure of Rice to Arsenal – as does Real Betis centre-back Luiz Felipe.
In terms of attacking players, though, options appear to be few and far between as far as West Ham are concerned. United appear to have missed out to Newcastle United over the signing of Harvey Barnes from Leicester City, whilst links with the likes of Callum Hudson-Odoi and Matheus Franca have gone quiet.
However, according to Football Insider, Moyes is pushing hard for West Ham to sign Strasbourg striker Habib Diallo.
The report suggests that Brentford are also showing a strong interest, with Thomas Frank's side on the lookout for a striker to fill in – and possibly then play alongside – Ivan Toney during his spell in the stands for breaching the FA's betting rules.
Who is Strasbourg striker Habib Diallo?
Diallo is a man in demand after scoring 20 goals in 37 Ligue 1 appearances last season, making him the sixth-highest scoring player in the French top flight, with Paris Saint-Germain superstar Kylian Mbappe (29) leading the way.
The 28-year-old was responsible for 39% of all of Strasbourg's Ligue 1 goals last season, as per WhoScored – only Alexandre Lacazette (42%) and Folarin Balogun (47%), for Lyon and Reims respectively, were more relied upon by their teams.
According to FBref's player comparison tool, Diallo's statistical profile is very similar to that of Fulham's Aleksandar Mitrovic – a player West Ham would no doubt love to have up top next season.
Indeed, the pair scored at the exact same rate of 0.63 league goals per 90 minutes last season – Diallo in Ligue 1 and Mitrovic in the Premier League – while both chipped in with one assist each.
Diallo found the target from more of his shots (40% compared to 31.8% for Mitrovic), though there was very little between them in terms of aerial duels won (46.1% for Diallo, 48.8% for Mitrovic).
Indeed, FBref ranks Diallo in the top 11% of all forwards across Europe's top five leagues for aerial duels won last season (4.22 per 90 minutes), while he is in the top 17% in terms of non-penalty goals scored (0.53 per 90).
To put that in some perspective, Gianluca Scamacca – the flop striker that Diallo would effectively be signed to replace at West Ham – ranked in the bottom 41% in both metrics with 1.65 and 0.29 respectively.
Thought to be available for around £20m this summer, West Ham could bring in a player who boasts similar qualities to Mitrovic – and is therefore a huge upgrade on what they have.
Recently described as a "reliable" striker by Strasbourg head coach Frederic Antonetti, moving for Diallo seems a no-brainer as far as the Irons are concerned.