By Dave Langton
Issa Diop could only leave West Ham if the club can pull off a late swoop to bring in a defender such as Duje Caleta-Car.
The club have been linked with a deadline-busting move to bring the Marseille defender to the club and we have reported that there is, indeed, interest in the Croatia international. 
Any deal would have to be a loan with an option to buy him in the summer, but it does seem that Marseille may try to hold out for a fee for the Croatia international.
His arrival would open the door for Diop to potentially leave the club and move on, with Newcastle sniffing around as they attempt to bring a new centre-back in before the deadline, as well.
This is very much a case of dominoes needing to fall and there is next to no chance of Diop leaving if Caleta-Car, or any centre-back, isn’t signed before the deadline.
Personally it is time for Diop to move on and I would let him go if there was interest in him so he can play. Secondly I am not sure about with Phillips or Car and I worry we are trying to players who cannot even get into their current teams. We also seem to be going back to the same names and I keep going back to how disappointed I am in our recruitment department, it has been a complete shambles and someone needs to be held accountable for what I would say is the worst example of planning I have seen probably for the most important window we have ever had. I watched Car at the Euros for Croatia and I was far from impressed and in fact I did not rate him as a good defender, he has lots of faults like getting too close to the striker, has a tendency to switch off and even a greater tendency to make a mistake leave a foot in etc..
It may be me but i thought he committed a lot of fouls.