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According to Nice-Matin, West Ham have put OGC Nice central defender Malang Sarr on their shortlist of players to replace Issa Diop if the Frenchman moves to Old Trafford this summer.

What's the deal, then?

The French club currently have a contract in place with the highly-rated 20-year-old until 2020, and he had been tipped until recently to be signing a new deal with Les Aiglons, as per Nice-Matin.

But with interest from not only the Hammers but also Borussia Monchengladbach and RB Leipzig, it would seem Sarr could be on the move this summer.

However, he will not be pursued by the east London club if they are to keep Diop, who has been linked with a £60million move to Manchester United.

Diop only arrived at the London Stadium last summer but has clearly already made enough of an impact to have the Red Devils come and knock on his door.

Sarr move would be another clever West Ham signing

The link with Sarr is an ironic one because he is of a similar calibre of player that Diop was before moving to the Irons - a young, highly-rated French centre-half plying his trade in Ligue 1.

However, Sarr is a year younger than Diop was when he made the move to London and has already played 99 games for Nice despite his tender years - stats show he is much more comfortable on the ball given he averages nearly 60 passes a game compared to Diop's 34.4.

Pellegrini is an incredibly underrated manager when it comes to his ability to spot the talent of a player.

When he was at Manchester City he bought some of, what are now, Pep Guardiola's key players in Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and Fernandinho.

Meanwhile, in his one and only summer window with West Ham last year, he bought some players who impressed greatly in their opening season - Diop, Felipe Anderson and Lukasz Fabianski to name but a few.

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There is no doubting Diop would be a loss to the Hammers, but Sarr would be a decent replacement and given the way Pellegrini likes to play and the style he seems to be building at the London Stadium - only heightened by the recent arrival of Pablo Fornals - he seems like the perfect fit.