{"id":254126,"date":"2025-07-10T18:16:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T18:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/254126\/"},"modified":"2025-07-10T18:16:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T18:16:17","slug":"pressure-piles-on-david-sullivan-as-leeds-pounce-for-west-ham-target-who-has-been-waiting-to-sign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/254126\/","title":{"rendered":"Pressure piles on David Sullivan as Leeds pounce for West Ham target who has been waiting to sign"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The pressure is mounting on West Ham chief David Sullivan after Leeds United made their move for a key Graham Potter target who has been left waiting to sign for the Hammers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

With West Ham<\/a> fans demanding action after the sale of Mohammed Kudus, it is Leeds who may now get the jump on a transfer that\u2019s been in the offing for weeks.<\/p>\n

Looking at the finances available to Graham Potter<\/a> and Daniel Farke<\/a>, anyone would think it is Leeds who have been on the Premier League<\/a> gravy train for 13 consecutive years not West Ham.<\/p>\n

But in actual fact while Leeds have been yo-yo\u2019ing between the top flight and the Championship, West Ham\u2019s income has been boosted by more than the standard Premier League riches.<\/p>\n

There have been five European qualifications, three of which came on the bounce in the last four years and included winning a major trophy.<\/p>\n

Leeds in far superior position than West Ham financially<\/p>\n

Leeds may have boosted coffers by selling off star players such as Kalvin Phillips, Raphinha and \u2013 to West Ham last summer \u2013 Crysencio Summerville.<\/p>\n

But the Hammers brought in pure 100 per cent profit on homegrown captain Declan Rice when they sold him to Arsenal for \u00a3105m just two years ago.<\/p>\n

Now the east Londoners have raised further funds by controversially selling Kudus to bitter rivals Spurs for \u00a354.5m.<\/p>\n

Yet it is Leeds who reportedly have over \u00a3100m to spend having just been promoted back to the big time and West Ham claim they can only spend what they make in sales due to PSR. <\/p>\n

Irons majority owner David Sullivan<\/a> has been heavily criticised by fans over the situation and sale of a top player to rivals Spurs.<\/p>\n

\"WestPhoto by Rob Newell \u2013 CameraSport via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Furious Hammers supporters are demanding the Kudus money is reinvested in Potter\u2019s rebuild in full \u2013 and fast.<\/p>\n

Despite Potter stating he wants to overhaul his ageing West Ham side around young, dynamic stars, the club are yet to make a single major signing for him this summer.<\/p>\n

The only arrival has been young striker Daniel Cummings \u2013 who was also interesting Leeds United \u2013 on a free from Celtic. But he will start off initially with the club\u2019s under 21s.<\/p>\n

West Ham have had targets lined up, identified by Potter and head of recruitment Kyle Macaulay.<\/p>\n

But several reported targets have come and gone while the Hammers are restricted to a watching brief.<\/p>\n

Pressure piles on Sullivan as Leeds pounce for West Ham target<\/p>\n

And another might be able to slip through West Ham\u2019s fingers.<\/p>\n

The pressure has piled on Sullivan as Leeds pounce for a top West Ham target who has literally been waiting to sign.<\/p>\n

Slavia Prague and Senegal left-back El Hadji Malick Diouf<\/a> has been so close to joining the Hammers in the last week that he has even been banned from training as the Czech club protects its asset.<\/p>\n

Slavia have good relations with West Ham after selling them both Tomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal.<\/p>\n

They are demanding a league record \u00a321.5m for the 20-year-old in the wake of bids which amounted to \u00a317m and then \u00a317.5m from the Hammers.<\/p>\n

\"ElPhoto by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

One of Soucek\u2019s former Czech Under 19 teammates \u2013 and close friends \u2013\u00a0teased that the Hammers were close to signing Diouf<\/a>\u00a0heading into last weekend.<\/p>\n

Diouf was also set said to be ready to fly to London for a medical as soon as West Ham agree the fee.<\/p>\n

A new Diouf twist from Czechia was great news for West Ham<\/a>\u00a0on Saturday as negotiations continued in the hope of concluding a deal.<\/p>\n

Slavia\u2019s manager Jind\u0159ich Trpi\u0161ovsk\u00fd admitted Diouf signing for the Hammers was inevitable<\/a> \u2013 and so important to Slavia financially \u2013 he had to keep the pacy and rangy star away training with the team.<\/p>\n

While West Ham have dallied, though, Leeds have sensed an opportunity.<\/p>\n

Diouf has been waiting to join Hammers but now Leeds swoop<\/p>\n

That\u2019s according to Sportitalia<\/a> journalist Gianluigi Longari, who says Leeds are now pushing to try and beat West Ham to Diouf.<\/p>\n

Diouf\u2019s future is being reported on in Italy because Atalanta have been linked.<\/p>\n

The Serie A side have Champions League football to offer but it has been reported that West Ham held the ace card with the offer of London life and Premier League football.<\/p>\n

Now, though, Leeds are threatening to continue their summer spree by making Diouf their next signing.<\/p>\n

If West Ham are waiting for the first instalment of their Kudus money from Spurs \u2013 which will work out at \u00a318m as it is being paid over three years \u2013 before moving for Diouf \u2013 whose first instalment will be less than \u00a34m if spread over a five-year deal \u2013 then money really must be tight at the London Stadium.<\/p>\n

Sullivan will have a Hammers fan meltdown on his hands if West Ham are beaten to Diouf by Leeds.<\/p>\n

Especially as Paul Merson thinks Leeds will be \u2018licking their lips\u2019 at staying up ahead of West Ham<\/a>.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The pressure is mounting on West Ham chief David Sullivan after Leeds United made their move for a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254127,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[38014,97359,94,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-254126","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-david-sullivan","9":"tag-el-hadji-malick-diouf","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114830310413181742","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}