French journalist says West Ham have agreed £17m sale, he refused to play in defeat to Man City

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West Ham have agreed a £17m deal to sell Issa Diop to Fulham, according to Foot Mercato journalist Dahbia Hattabi.

The French journalist claims that the defender is set to sign a 5-year contract with the newly-promoted Premier League side.

Speaking after West Ham’s 2-0 defeat at the hands of Erling Haaland and Manchester City, David Moyes provided an update on Diop.

He said that the French centre-back had not put himself forward to play in the Hammers recent matches: “No, Issa Diop is not injured at the minute.

“Issa Diop didn’t put himself forward to play in the last couple of games and we will see what happens with that in the next couple of weeks.”

West Ham have agreed deal to sell Diop

The decision for Diop to exclude himself from West Ham’s opening fixture meant Moyes was short of natural centre-backs, and was forced to play young full-back Ben Johnson in the middle with Kurt Zouma.

Unfortunately, the new centre-back partnership was unable to deal with City forward Haaland, who ran between them both before being brought down by Alphonse Areola to win City’s penalty.

In the second half, Haaland once again ran beyond West Ham’s defence, with Johnson playing Haaland onside as he ran in behind Zouma to easily score City’s second goal.

West Ham agreeing to part with Diop when new signing Nayef Aguerd is ruled out with an ankle injury suggests that either Moyes has faith in this new partnership until Aguerd or Craig Dawson are available again, or someone’s coming in to replace the departing Frenchman.

The Hammers have been linked with a move for Conor Coady, but he looks set to join Wolves, while Moyes is also reportedly interested in signing free agent Dan-Axel Zagadou.