West Ham are today being reported as being ahead of Newcastle in the chase to sign Montpellier forward Gaetan Laborde.
According to a report from L’Equipe the striker is wanted by both Steve Bruce and David Moyes with the Hammers desperate for a new front man.
The Hammers boss is assembling a short list for January with Josh King believed to be at the top of it but whatever deal is done will be on the basis of an extended instalment basis in the current financial circumstances.
Laborde is valued at around £9 million and the 26 year old is far more in the mould of Mike Antonio – which is the kind of athletic and energetic approach clearly favoured by the Hammers boss.
However, he isn’t the most prolific having scored 22 goals in the last two and a bit seasons.
Newcastle are believed to have been on his case for some time but a move to the currently resurgent Irons is considered more likely – according to L’Equipe anyway.
I would prefer Josh King, though he is overpriced.
If we recruited both, Gaetan and Seb could sit in the stands discussing articles from Le Monde while Antonio and King played first team.