OPINION
West Ham defender Issa Diop’s fledgling reputation skyrocketed at the expense of Tottenham forward Harry Kane during Saturday’s clash between the London rivals.
The 21-year-old, who the Hammers spent a whopping £22million on signing in the summer (Source: BBC), had generally impressed in the eight outings he had made ahead of his side facing Spurs at the London Stadium.
However Diop made sure that everyone knew how good he was and what a coup the Hammers had achieved by signing him, by delivering an immense performance on Saturday.
The centre-back was a rock at the back and his sublime distribution of the ball set the Hammers on several promising attacks during the game.
Diop may have ended up on the losing side on Saturday as Spurs just about managed to leave the London Stadium with all three points after beating the Hammers 1-0, but his performance will be spoken about in a very positive way.
There are few players who can keep Kane in their pocket but that’s exactly what the 21-year-old did for the majority of the game on Saturday.
Diop always seemed to be there in order to stop the key Tottenham player from having any form of an opportunity on goal and it probably left many Spurs fans furious with Kane over his disappointing display.
Yet it wasn’t the Spurs forward’s fault as he couldn’t have expected Diop to dominate him the way he did.
Kane, who should be considered world class at this point, normally is able to bamboozle his opponents and will be hoping that he doesn’t go toe to toe with Diop shortly when Spurs and West Ham meet in the League Cup.
This is because it was clear on Saturday that Diop’s reputation skyrocketed at the expense of Kane as the defender simply was able to best him at every turn.
