£20 million defender signing on the cards | West Ham News

IT WOULD SEEM that Nuno Espírito Santo has seen enough of West Ham’s clumsy centre back options. The equally error-stricken pair of Konstantinos Mavropanos and Max Kilman have failed to improve as evinced by their last appearances. The Greek was responsible for mistakes leading to arguably both goals in the Liverpool defeat whilst Max Kilman fared little better in the Bournemouth game.

Probably the most improved player under Nuno is Jean Clair Todibo who looks both stronger and switched on for a full 90. Shame that the Hammers head coach hasn’t been able to work his magic on either Kilman or ‘Mav’.

Various reports now link the Hammers with two strong centre back candidates for recruitment in the January window, making it pretty clear that a like for like replacement for Nayef Aguerd is – belatedly – on the cards.

The Moroccan was sold to Marseille in September for just under £20m and the Hammers were criticised at the time for not ploughing the cash back into a replacement.

It looks like the Irons have accepted strengthening is essential and two centre backs in particular are options front and centre of the recruitment drive.

Footballfancast.com is the latest in a long line to suggest both Toulouse’s Cresswell and Lecce’s Tiago Gabriel are highly fancied:

“West Ham could reignite talks over a deal for Toulouse defender Charlie Cresswell, who they came very close to signing in the summer  but Lecce sensation Tiago Gabriel is also attracting their attention.”

What the report doesn’t highlight is that Juventus are likely to pip the Hammers to the post for Gabriel, meaning Cresswell at an enhanced price of €25 million is likely now the front runner.

After the fiasco of a summer failure to recruit and the unsuccessful loan for Igor Julio, West Ham must act ASAP to shore up their porous defence.

It seems from the reports circulating that finally, the penny has dropped and the £20 million will be committed. Cresswell (main image) may be the front runner: Having messed it up in the summer, nobody is banking on David Sullivan getting a deal with Toulouse over the line.