West Ham are apparently willing to sell Issa Diop to Manchester United for £60m. 

Clearly, Diop isn’t the first player to be linked with Manchester United this summer nor will he be the last, such is the nature of the time of year we're in. Indeed, at the beginning of June, Manchester Evening News calculated that 60 players had already been rumoured to be making a move to Old Trafford as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer tries to commit to his ‘ruthless’ promise and rebuild the club from the ground up.

The Premier League newbie, who was signed from Toulouse last summer, impressed fans and critics alike during the recently completed season. Jose Mourinho, following United’s shock 3-1 defeat, said: “He had a fantastic match.

“Congratulations to the scout that found a 21-year-old kid Diop – a monster who dominated in the duels.”

Well, it seems the club have taken inspiration from their former boss’s words and are chasing the £60million-rated defender this summer, according to Sky Sports News

We’re fast approaching July 1 2019, which is when Solskjaer is reported (per the Sun) to have wanted all his business to have been concluded and so far United have bought Daniel James from the Championship. A promising player no doubt but surely not someone who is going to make the rest of the top six worry all too much.

So, clearly more additions are needed and there are only so many ways such a need can potentially go. Either no one comes in, the club land the right targets for reasonable prices or United are forced to overpay to land players.

In our minds, Diop's signing would fall comfortably into the latter scenario. The Frenchman has been impressive this season no doubt, producing 2.1 tackles, 1.9 interceptions, 4.7 clearances and 1.1 blocks per game on average, as per WhoScored. However, he’s relatively unproven at this level and his consistency is yet to be fully tested at such a high level. A good player, yes, but not a £60m one just yet.

Obviously, the transfer market has thrown up some crazy fees in the last few years but when you consider only two defenders (Champions League winner Virgil van Dijk and World Cup champion Lucas Hernandez) in history have ever cost more than the kind of fee West Ham are said to be demanding, shelling out that much on a man who's had just one campaign in Premier League seems ill-advised.

Manchester United fans, do you think the club is becoming desperate? Is Diop the right man for the job? Let us know in the comments below…