With West Ham’s negotiations for Max Kilman apparently deadlocked—with Wolves sticking to their £45 million price tag and West Ham reportedly £10 million short—it appears that our hierarchy is looking elsewhere for suitable squad reinforcements rather than facing repeated rejections and making zero progress.
Fabrizio Romano reported developments regarding 23-year-old centre-back Jake O’Brien, which would represent an exciting shift of interest to a player likely to have a more realistic price tag; transfermarkt.com values him around £12 million.
Interest in the 6 ft 4 in O’Brien makes a lot of sense for both clubs. Lyon is in dire need of funds and is still grappling with the dilemma over Saïd Benrahma, who is theoretically still on loan from West Ham even though they are reportedly keen on keeping him. A cash-plus-player exchange would seem to be an outcome that suits both parties, as I doubt we’d really relish the prospect of Benrahma returning to West Ham for pre-season training.
O’Brien was a midfielder earlier in his career and is still adept at picking a pass. The Irish defender contributed four goals and two assists to Lyon’s tally last season.
News that O’Brien had been added to West Ham’s shortlist was posted on Romano’s Facebook page in the last few hours, along with updates on the Kyle Walker-Peters and Flynn Downes negotiations with Southampton. It seems we are not afraid to walk away from negotiations and seek out new targets to get the deals done.
Should have been getting this one sorted from the off instead of going for killman , plus the fact Lyon owe us 13M for benni , get this one done !