The French site L’Equipe has alerted us to a major West Ham target coming back onto the transfer market after it was mistakenly reported that he’d finalised a deal with Al-Ittihad. Apparently, the fine print and final details of the sale caused a falling out, and the 24-year-old might well be back on the Hammers’ radar.
The deal, at £15 million, would make great financial sense unlike some of the eye-watering prices being thrown around for alleged West Ham targets—especially bearing in mind our likely post-Kilman transfer budget.
Even better, the Belgian had reportedly already passed a medical, so this would be one prospective sale without the likely last-minute worries over hidden physical issues.
Arthur Theate, a target of Tim Steidten according to Fabrizio Romano, before The Hammers were beaten to it by Al-Ittihad, could be an excellent defensive addition from French side Rennes. ‘Several Premier League sides’ are apparently seeking to benefit from the collapse of the deal. From Steiden’s previous interest, we’d assume that puts us back in a great position to bring the young 1.85m centre-back, who played three games at Euro ’24, to the London Stadium.
The possible transfer will also depend on how far discussions might have progressed regarding the ‘disposal’ of Kurt Zouma or Nayef Aguerd, reported as being a prerequisite for bringing in new defensive additions—four being the maximum number of center-backs needed on our books and on the wage bill. There have been interesting stories this morning regarding Aguerd, and we’ll deal with those later on.
Theate is left footed correct? As is Kilman. And we still have Aguerd. Surely it’s a right sided centre back that we need?
“center”???? centre ffs
Oops! Thank you, updated. Without the ‘ffs’