Issa Diop has a dream – to follow in the footsteps of one of our favourite sons – Rio Ferdinand.
The young Frenchman has enjoyed a fantastic first season at the club which he chose and has found to be a “family.”
The club moved very quickly indeed to snap him up for £22 million ahead of Spurs, Everton and Fulham after an inspiring season at Toulouse where, as skipper in the final year, he led the fight against relegation.
But the Hammers were on the case in a stroke and tempted him into the Premier League – a move which has seen the fans drooling at masterly performance after masterly performance.
That however is not a view Diop necessarily shares but instead believes there is much more to come from him under the manager he dubs ‘The Professor’ – Manuel Pellegrini.
The 20 year old’s season was probably capped by an incredible 10/10 performance against Spurs which even sent hard nosed pundit Alan Shearer into raptures at what he called a totally awesome performance.
Diop takes it all in his stride but could hardly be happier at his new club and told The Mirror: “West Ham is like a family. They have a lot of fans and they love the club.
“They don’t necessarily want the best players but they want a good guy. Players who want to play for the shirt. Players willing to give everything on the pitch.”
Incredibly, he remains dissatisfied with his level of performance at the Hammers allowing the stats to do the talking for him.
He said: “But I don’t think I’ve shown my best form to Manuel Pellegrini. We’ve conceded 54 goals in the Premier League this season. It’s too much.
“I need to improve everything: concentration, technique, I need to read the game better. I need to improve a lot.”
He believes he will do under the manager adding: “Pellegrini is like a professor. He encourages you when you make a mistake so that you can improve.”
But maybe an even bigger influence than the manager is his Mum as he explains: “My mum is a massive influence. She was a psychiatric nurse and she did everything for us. I’m the oldest of five. Me, my little brother and three girls.
“My dad was around but we didn’t have a lot of money.
“I saw how hard it was for her and I took my determination from her.”
He points to Rio Ferdinand as the type of Hammers old model he wants to follow adding: “I loved watching Rio Ferdinand play.. “Everybody knows him. He was one of the best English players around.
“He won five Premier Leagues with Manchester United. He was in the Champions League with Leeds at 18 or 19.”
His first season with us shows he has everything in place to follow Rio as the Hammers and he look optimistically to the future.
What a wonderful article, perhaps we have such an affinity with Issa because many of us might have faced relatively similar upbringings? Playing alongside Balbuena who reads the game so well and with MP managing hopefully he can get up to Rio’s level at interceptions Rio was good but Issa is already far superior so that is one stat he has a head start on, reading the game and concentration can be improved if you work hard and want too. Great season Issa COYI !!!
Agree 32.
Love to hear that from young players or any players & he already seems very tuned into club. This isn’t the first time he has said he could get better & will. I like that he calls MP the Professor. Don’t think we would have Diop if not for Pellegrini.
He has settled well at LCB & him & Balbuena fit well. Balbuena still under radar some but he is just well rounded & a CB that just us that solid partner
Great attitude Diop