Young, fast, lively attacking talent isn’t cheap, as West Ham found out with their interest in Brian Brobbey that evaporated thanks to Ajax’ demands in the January window. The Dutch club weren’t interested din a loan and insisted on a loan with unconditional buy in the summer which at €30 million was too hot for West Ham. The Hammers settled on their loan of Evan Ferguson and booted the whole striker buying issue into the long grass until the summer.
However it turns out that there were attempts made to buy other young, promising attackers in the January window. From tuttosport.com today via footballfancast.com comes the report of Juventus’ promising talent Samuel Mbangula, for whom the Hammers made, and had rejected, a €10 million bid. According to footballfancast.com “The 21-year-old has been a very useful asset for the Old Lady across 2024/2025 – scoring four goals and bagging four assists in 25 total appearances so far – and this is apparently attracted interest from East London.”
“The Serie A heavyweights want nearly triple that amount at a minimum, around £21 million, and his price tag could even go as high as £25 million if the Belgian carries on his impressive performances.” Would, apparently, appear the disappointing news for lowballing West Ham – whether they can ever find a Porsche quality player for Ford Focus money is open to considerable doubt: Certainly Mbangula won’t come cheap. He’s very highly rated and of course other Premier League clubs are interested but whether the Hammers will go back on for him after the season ends depends on his performances between now and the end of May: We’ll keep a watchful eye open.