West Ham winger Michail Antonio has labelled his French teammate Issa Diop as a “monster of a man.”
France U21 defender Diop signed for The Hammers last summer, joining from Toulouse for £22 million and signing a five-year-deal at the London Stadium.
He has since established himself as one Manuel Pellegrini’s first choice centre-backs, playing 20 times in the Premier League as West Ham continue to impress under their veteran Chilean manager.
Antonio clearly likes what he sees from the towering 22-year-old on the pitch, and has been signing the praises of his talented defender.
“Issa Diop is frightening,” Antonio told BBC Five Live
“He’s started off the season quite slowly coming from the French league, Toulouse, but as he’s been playing more and more he’s built up more confidence.’’
“In the Southampton game, from the corner he passed the ball to me and then I managed to find Felipe Anderson [for the winner]. But then Issa got into the six yard box! He ran the whole length of the pitch trying to get a tap in.
“He’s a monster of a man and he’s just showing it at the age of 22 now that he’s got a bright future ahead of him.
West Ham are currently 9th in the table with 31 points from 22 matches. They travel to Bournemouth this weekend, where they will look to continue their recent good form and build on their impressive 1-0 victory over Arsenal last Saturday.