With the Jesse Lingard saga now finally at a close following confirmation of his move from Manchester United to newly promoted Nottingham Forest, all West Ham United fans are probably breathing a sign of relief given the 29-year-old had already twice rejected permanent moves to the London Stadium following his short loan spell with us previously – at least now we can focus on players who want to be here as we continue our preparations for the coming 2022/23 Premier League campaign.
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One player who could well be on the move is Burnley midfielder Dwight McNeil, as it is now being reported that we and Crystal Palace have made an official approach for the 22-year-old but if our interest in the former England Under 21 international is true, it might not be as straightforward a deal as fans would naturally think.
Following Burnley’s relegation from the Premier League last season, it is believed that they will be demanding a fee slightly in excess of £15 million for the player, but he does still have two years remaining on his deal at Turf Moor and Burnley hold a 12 month extension option on top of that – despite McNeil himself being keen on a return to the top flight of English football.
It may well boil down to how hard the youngster pushes behind the scenes for a move to happen, but from West Ham’s perspective he could definitely fit the mould that manager David Moyes looks for in younger players.
He is energetic, with a good work ethic and he has often caught the eye with his displays in recent years on the pitch having come through Burnley’s Academy ranks and originally made his debut back in May 2018. A big selling point that Moyes would certainly understand and be attracted to is that despite being relatively young at only 22, his professional experience is all Premier League – McNeil has never been loaned out to another club further down the English pyramid – instead making a direct impact in his breakthrough season in 2018/19 with three goals in 25 appearances, with him now racking up an impressive 137 starts across all domestic competitions (with one Europa League outing) and a further nine showings from the substitutes bench.
With Moyes making Rennes defender Nayef Aguerd our first signing of the summer for £30 million, and activating the buy option on Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper Alphonse Areola (£7.75 million) following his successful loan spell in the 2021/22 campaign, McNeil would compliment the strengthening so far and with ongoing links to Chelsea forward Armando Broja, Sassuolo striker Gianluca Scamacca and Lille midfielder Amadou Onana there is every reason to be optimistic about the year ahead as further Premier League improvement under the gaffer also gives us a maiden Europa Conference League adventure this season
After the disappointment of the recent friendly defeat against Scottish side Rangers, Moyes will be even more determined to get our business in the window right so we can hopefully kick on again further.
“It was always going to be a difficult game, but I’m disappointed with a lot of elements. Rangers looked better, quicker, sharper. I didn’t see it as being a good team performance at all. We certainly need to make a lot of changes and do something different, that’s for sure.”
All eyes to Manchester City on August 7.
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