Everton have completed the signing of Amadou Onana.
The Hammers were interested in doing a deal for the Lille midfielder this summer and made two bids to secure his signature from the French club.
However, he has now completed a move to the Toffees, with the Irons pulling out of the race after learning of his demands when it came to personal terms.
The 20-year-old has joined the Goodison Park club for a fee of £33.5m, per The Sun, and they report that he has signed a five-year contract.
The Irons are likely to try to sign a different midfielder before the end of the transfer window, as boss David Moyes has identified the area as being in need of reinforcement.
So far, the Hammers have signed Flynn Downes from Swansea but he is viewed as more of a project who will develop over the coming years, as opposed to a player who is ready to play 38 games a season now.
A lit of comments today about our issues in transfer market.
It will be interesting to hear if and how the current Financial Fair Play rules are affecting decisions on recruiting players.
Newcastle now have obscene wealth but comments coming from them indicate they can’t just pay enormous sums for players and their wages due to potentially falling foul of FFP. What are our limits for buying and paying players as we are in Europe it must be a factor.
Clubs like Everton, Fulham, Forest all waiting in the wings until we inevitably blow it and they can step in. We are giving the impression that we don’t know what we are doing. Perhaps that is the reality?