WHU can seal dream Rice replacement in 21 y/o "phenomenon" who's "out of the ordinary" - opinion

West Ham United are set to face a hotly contested battle in their bid to bring Boubacar Kamara to the London Stadium in the summer transfer window.

That’s according to Mike McGrath’s recent report for The Telegraph, in which the journalist claimed that, with the Olympique de Marseille defensive midfielder’s contract set to expire this summer, the likes of Atletico Madrid, Leeds United and Manchester United are all contenders for the 22-year-old’s signature.

Previous reports had claimed that West Ham were also looking to secure a deal to sign the France U21 international in the January transfer window, with this interest expected to be continued in the summer.

While it is a situation that many West Ham fans would prefer to ignore, unfortunately for the London Stadium faithful, the rumours linking the club’s talismanic midfielder Declan Rice with a £120m move away from East London this summer are far from dying down.

However, while it would undoubtedly be a gutting blow to lose the “invaluable” – in the words of Teddy Sheringham – £75m-rated England international ahead of a season in which the Hammers could well be playing Champions League football, the addition of Kamara would certainly be one way to soften the loss of Rice.

Indeed, the £22.5m-rated prodigy has been imperious in marshalling the Marseille midfield since breaking into the first team back in 2017/18, earning rather extraordinary seasonal SofaScore match ratings of 6.93 in 2017/18, 6.89 in 2018/19, 7.00 in 2019/20 and 7.03 in 2020/21.

The £46k-per-week midfielder has once again been in breathtaking form over his 21 Ligue 1 appearances this season, scoring one goal and creating two big chances for his teammates, as well as making an average of 0.9 key passes,