West Ham land Diarra

Sam Alardyce may be outspoken and a bit of an advocate of the agricultural side of the game, but he is darned good at sniffing out a bargain in the transfer market and it looks like that trait will never jump out of Big Sam's character make-up as he duly scores another one just before the start of the Premier League season for West Ham.

After picking up the likes of George McCartney, Jussi Jaaskelainen and Mohamed Diame on free transfers as well as James Collins for a relative bargain, the latest player on the list is Marseille's Alou Diarra as he jets into East London to undergo his medical for the move.

Sky Sports believe the Hammers have agreed a deal for the 31 year old midfielder and he was in the capital early on Thursday to rubber-stamp his move to the Premier League new-boys.

For details on the fee, it is best to check the Daily Mail who believe West Ham have had to raise £2 million for the combative French central midfielder who played in their opening game of Euro 2012 against England.

Diarra, who fits the Allardyce criteria at 6ft 3 (do the math), had been in England once before with Liverpool, but was harshly sent packing from Anfield without making a single appearance.

Marseille, having bought Diarra from Bordeaux for £4.5 million just a year ago, are scheduled to make a loss on their man as they need to watch the bank-notes and his £60,000 a-week wages are proving troublesome. 

Their loss will be bargain-hunter Allardyce's gain however as the Hammers fly him in for a cheeky medical ahead of his £2million move.