West Ham United preparations for the coming 2024/25 Premier League campaign are well underway now, and with manager Julen Lopetegui replacing David Moyes, we have already seen incredibly highly rated young Brazilian attacker Luis Guilherme come in from Palmeiras.
Our work this window is far from done yet though, and as well as expected some departures, the speculation rumour mill is alive with links, and recently striker Jonathan David has found himself back amongst the headlines and for those who use the likes of https://bitedge.com/crypto-sports-betting/ services, the odds on this deal might be worth watching for a little bit.
The 24 year old currently plys his trade for French Ligue 1 side Lille, and he has already gained 49 caps for his country (Canada) with a return of 26 goals. It looks increasingly likely that he will not sign a new contract at the club, as he now has less than 12 months left on his current deal, so with him being out at the Copa America at the moment, the expectation is that there could be quite the tussle for him when the tournament ends.
The speculation naturally suggests that Lille are now looking to cash in on him, especially if he has a good tournament to drive the interest and his valuation up higher, but even then given his contract situation most reports suggest he could ultimately move for as little as £20 million.
If a deal is to be done, the Premier League becomes a pretty obvious destination for David to be linked with as he looks to step up further in his professional journey having spent time in Belgium as well with Gent earlier in his career. So pretty naturally it is already being claimed that he is being scouted by Chelsea, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and our good selves, with all four sides long claimed to be looking for alternative offensive options.
If all four clubs are keeping tabs on him and have already made tentative enquiries as is being suggested, from our point of view, with a goalscoring record of 84 in 183 matches across the last four years, it makes sense as to why we would have an interest, especially when you factor in that the lad still has plenty of room for development left and is far from the peak years of his career.
Despite being linked, Chelsea’s other well known strikers short list is likely to see them fall out of play here, but if we have an interest in him given it is pretty well known our new gaffer would seriously like alternatives to Michail Antonio and Danny Ings, we can push harder here (especially promises of relevant game time) which could help offset what are reported to be, problematic potential wage demands.
West Ham fans should not get too excited about him just yet though, no potential deal is going to go through before the Copa comes to a close and if Lille succeed in striking up even a small bidding war for his services, that will prolong our chase (assuming our interest as reported is genuine) for him anyway.
It is suggested our main priority right now is still in bolstering the backline, and that means a return bid for Wolverhampton Wanderers defender Max Kilman as our offer for their captain was rejected last week. Our gaffer obviously knows Kilman well from his short time at Molineux.
Like usual at this time of the year, what will be will be and all that matters is ‘in the shirt and on the pitch’.
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