West Ham open talks for ambitious midfielder move
Long gone are the days in which West Ham appeared cash strapped and dependent upon a huge clearcut to balance the books: A new report out this lunchtime from reputable journalist Graeme Bailey suggests the Irons are willing to spend big to bring their chosen players to London for Nuno’s Championship push.
When the first story broke in the Daily Mail there was a certain amount of scepticism over the ‘James McAtee to West Ham‘ suggestion, owing to the player’s undoubted talent and the £30 million price that Nottingham Forest paid to Manchester City for him just 12 months ago.
James mcatee
However, according to Bailey, writing in team talk.com, West Ham appear deadly serious:
“West Ham open talks for ambitious £30m signing of Nott’m Forest star as Nuno eyes reunion…Now, with circumstances having changed, we understand West Ham are prepared to offer Forest a package similar to the one they paid Manchester City just 12 months ago.”
McAtee struggled for game time last season, sitting low in the pecking order behind Forest’s McAtee struggled to nail down a place in the side in his first year Morgan Gibbs-White, Omari Hutchinson, Dan Ndoye, Dilane Bakwa, and Nicolas Dominguez offering stern competition.
And, importantly, as far as the player himself is concerned,
“McAtee himself is also understood to be receptive to the move.”
The arrival of Oliver Glasner is unlikely to see him elevated through the ranks towards a starting spot so West Ham’s plan is no doubt to guarantee more match time and a stocking plan to return to the Premier League in twelve months time.
That £30 million is seen as a comfortable package for the Irons to offer Nottingham Forest – although huge by Championship standards- shows how far the club appear to have bounced back from the dark, dark days of David Sullivan. As a record price paid by a Championship club (almost double the £17.5 million that Ipswich paid for Sindre Walle Egeli last season), it’d certainly be a statement of intent.
Way overpriced at 30, 20 more like it, just because we now have some money in the coffers no need to get silly with it.
would rather go after Harvey Elliott from Liverpool, must be itching to get his career back on track, and probably cost half this number….
I will be surprised if it is £30m or if it is there will likely be clauses involved, £30m for a player that didn’t prove himself is like paying £40m for Kilman.
£20m and add on seems like a statement signing and less risky.
I think 30million for a player who has yet to prove himself is a bit steep
Would prefer maybe a loan deal with option to buy if promoted
Or 20million with add on’s is much more realistic
Would like to see a bit of movement if the in and out of players,let’s not leave it to the last minute and end up panic buying
Players need to get a good pre-season in and work together before the season starts
Nice to see we are looking at younger players, with some experience