West Ham United have withdrawn their interest in Lille striker Jonathan David after refusing to meet the player’s agent’s hefty demands.
The Hammers were reportedly willing to pay Lille’s £30 million asking price for the Canadian forward. However, the deal collapsed due to agent fees amounting to a staggering £10 million, which West Ham deemed unacceptable.
David, entering the final year of his contract at Lille, is a highly sought-after striker attracting interest from several Premier League clubs, including Chelsea and Newcastle.
With the David deal falling through, West Ham have turned their attention to Aston Villa’s Jhon Duran. The Colombian forward is available for a more manageable fee of £35 million and represents a potential alternative. Whilst the transfer fee for Duran is similar to that of David, the wages for the Villa man would be half that demanded by the Lille forward.
This incident highlights West Ham’s commitment to controlling agent fees, having significantly reduced their spending in this area in recent seasons. Last year, they paid £13.8 million in agent fees, a stark contrast to Chelsea’s staggering £75 million.
David may be out of the picture, but West Ham are actively looking to bolster their attacking options. Jhon Duran emerges as the frontrunner, and negotiations are continuing.
we weren’t going to pay 30m for david
he’s a very limited footballer, no where near worth that fee – and that is ignoring that clubs can sign him for free in 9 months
this has to be rubbish, if he had 3 years left on his contract he’s worth around 20m
10m agent fees lol – agents obviously want for him to go on a free that way clubs are more open to agent fees
So far West Ham have been linked with 207 players have signed four it’s the same old story they will not pay the price the people doing the negotiations are the same a lot of talk and no action
If the don’t sign at least another five it will be a season of struggle
Four?!?
why dont the players pay the agents fee, as they are the ones who are going to make a financial killing by the fact that with the agents help in getting the biggest buck for them
I agree, the players should be paying Agent fees.
I was hoping we would get this bloke.
There should be a forum & look into these crazy fees they are asking for.
Football agents are parasites that prey on our game, unfortunately there are currently no regulations in place to limit what they can charge but however much I find it obscene it is the same for every other club. If we are truly ambitious and want to compete at the highest level then ( I’m going to hate myself for saying it)we just have to suck it up and pay it if we want a quality player. That being said I’m not sure this is a quality player.
Personally, I’m disappointed we’re out of this one
Well it would certainly explain why he has gone nowhere despite being linked to almost every club in Europe over the last 3 years, don’t understand why these players have agents, they could negotiate the deals themselves and get a lawyer to look at the contract.
he’s an athlete, no where near worth 30m
he’ll get found out quickly in the premier league
IF as you say, the likes of Chelsea and Newcastle want David, then we weren’t realistically getting him anyway. Not seen any actual story state that we had bid so no deal to fall through. Non story
How can a deal fall through if we didn’t even make a formal bid for the player? Just talk, the same with the other 500 players we’ve been linked with on here. If there had been bids why haven’t we read about negotiations or failed bids.
It “fell through” because you always agree a deal with the player first (in actuality the agent(s)),and in this case it was thank you, but no thank you.
I get the big wages dilemma but proven strikers always cost more in this respect, it’s the reason they get paid the money.
Summerville is another classic example of having to pay the going rate. A low ball offer for the EFL’s player of the season is crazy. Think we are offering less than we signed Bowen for. The transfer market has rapidly increased market value wise since then.
I still think £35m for Duran is a fair price. Villa getting a £20m uplift after a short period of time for a striker who hasn’t scored 10 goals in the Prem
I’ve never thought he was capable of playing in the EPL and obviously prepared to put money in front of career progression. What a greedy tw*t. Sounds ideal for the Sportwashing nation. Why we ever considered him, if true, is a mystery. I bet he was a football manager ‘name’ the perv in chief wanted if it is.
Did you not understand the article? It’s the agent who wants £10 mil.
If David really is a target of the likes of Chelsea, Tottenham and Newcastle, as reported elsewhere then we’re wasting our time going for him anyway. A bigger club than us is probably prepared to pay the fees.
The story makes no sense.
If JDavid’s agents want £10m on top of a £30m transfer that’s £40m
If JDuran is £35m the agent fee will need to be £5m or less to make it a cheaper option.
With the ridiculous fees agents command I can’t see that being the case.
It’s the principle of not being held to ransom by the parasites that call themselves agents