No smoke without fire

The name Willie McKay will be very familiar to Hammers fans.

The Scot was among David Sullivan’s most favoured agents and now –  according to a report from RMC Sport – the ‘super agent’  is helping broker a deal for Stade Reims hitman Boulaye Dia.

There is no smoke without fire and the Dia name keeps cropping up, probably more than aby other fire.

Speculation from French media earlier this week suggested Hammers would open the bidding at £8.9m around a club valuation for around £10m.

Talksport radio presenter Alex Crook has a different take suggesting a £15m bid is being mooted.

Mackay, meanwhile, is awaiting a fraud trial this summer. The 60-year-old, from Glasgow, has denied the charge of by buying £63,000 worth of gifts for his wife while he was bankrupt.

McKay has not been registered as an intermediary via new rules were introduced in 2015. In March 2015 he was made bankrupt; FA rules disqualify people with bankruptcy orders from being registered intermediaries.

McKay has been discharged from his bankruptcy, agreeing to a five-year restriction order prohibiting him from being a director or managing a company, without permission from a court.

McKay has a long association with David Sullivan but it is much more likely that it is Willie’s son Mark McKay involved and not the father as he is considered to be a mover and shaker in the world of French football.