West Ham are said to be chasing Lille duo Jonathan David and Angel Gomes, both of whom will be available on free transfers this summer.
Itās not often that transfer rumours get me genuinely excited, but this one has certainly grabbed my attention. While speculation linking David with a move to the London Stadium is nothing new, the addition of Gomes makes this rumour even more thrilling.
The 24-year-old Gomes was once tipped to be the next big thing from Manchester United’s academy. Although his time at Old Trafford didnāt pan out as expected, he has made a name for himself in France, with a short but impactful loan stint in Portugal along the way. Gomes even earned his England debut last September.
Gomes made history as United’s youngest player since Duncan Edwards when he was subbed on during their 2-0 win over Crystal Palace. Just six months later, he signed his first professional contract.
Unfortunately, Gomes struggled for regular first-team opportunities at United and left having made just 10 senior appearances. He joined Lille on a five-year deal and was immediately loaned to Boavista, where he immediately impressed.
With both Tottenham and Manchester United rumoured to be interested, signing Gomes will be no easy task. However, Graham Potter is reportedly eager to bring the midfielder to East London. Based on what Iāve seen, Gomes would fit perfectly into Potterās style of play and would likely be guaranteed a starting role at West Ham.
Gomes boasts incredible technical ability, a low centre of gravity, and the potential to become one of the Premier Leagueās best midfielders. Whether the Hammers can pull off this double coup remains to be seen, but securing players of the calibre of Gomes and Davidāespecially on free transfersāwould be nothing short of remarkable.
All Hammers fans would love to see this happen but they probably won’t. I’m sure much better teams will be making more attractive offers than us to get this pair as free transfers. If we could land them both this window it would be a fantastic move. Keep your fingers crossed but don’t hold your breath
I said on this site a while back (if “a while” is counted in weeks…) that West Ham should look to do deals for both.
David we’ve been linked with for years and always felt we should have been going for him over targets we went for and (as I’d said) it’s well known David and Gomes are both very close friends. We’re in desperate need of a striker and midfielder and both are available on a free in the summer so available at knock down prices this window.
Unlike every other naysayer here, if we put a decent offer to land David now then our frequent attempts at signing him might work in our favour as from all reports, he’d apparently agreed a Ā£30m switch in the summer and it was his agent demands which killed the move. So he’s clearly interested and if we can land him then it could potentially make convincing Gomes to sign a lot easier.
After all, Alvarez and Kudus were close friends at Ajax and Kudus has said linking up with Alvarez was an influence on signing with us so could work again.
š¤£ āA low centre of gravityā is a brilliant way of saying heās tiny! Love it, Gonzo. š
In other news, a trusted source has revealed to C&H exclusively that West Ham will be targeting two world class strikers in Erling Haaland and Cole Palmer. Haaland feels a light blue shirt makes him look fat, and would prefer a slimming claret one, while Palmer is said to be unhappy at not playing every minute of every match for Chelsea and would prefer a move to a bigger club like West Ham. Itās believed a 6 month loan offer with a 30 million obligation to buy would get the pair.
Wow! How about that news! You couldnāt make this stuff upā¦ well actually you can, and they do.
I donāt believe weāre trying to buy Erling Hahaland I think youāre making this up so we can all enjoy being really disgruntled when we sign an old injury crocked journeyman. Build us up knock us down build us up again. Keep us interested thatās your game.
This is also being reported by TalkSport and others and would be an incredible double transfer coup. I can’t help wondering why Lille would allow both to leave on free transfers when their contracts run out, and why both would choose us when they can take their pick of top Champions League teams? David has previously expressed his dream is to play for Barcelona who he supported as a boy. With 17 goals already this season including 6 in the Champions League plus 26 goals last season. Unsurprisingly every major team in Europe is reported to have watched him. Arsenal, Chelsea, Newcastle, Man Utd and Villa said to be interested.
Gomes with 4 England caps will surely be looking for top European competition and Dortmund, Juventus, Tottenham and Villa all interested.
If West Ham could sign these 2 on pre- contracts to join in the Summer or better still this window, it would take us to the next level and it really would be a massive statement of intent for our new manager. Suddenly this transfer window just got interesting!
All players leave on free transfers when their contracts run out. Lille could get something for them by selling now if the players were open to it and not intent on running their contracts down in order to get large signing on fees. All the interest from Dortmund, Arsenal, Man U, etc, that you’ve listed are the reasons why they wont come here. The idea that they’d come here is a daydream.
Jonathan David isnāt coming to West Ham. Doesnāt matter how many click-bait sites repeat it. He will leave in the summer for CL club and get a big pay off. How gullible are you people?
100% John my point is Lille will lose a fortune if they simply allow players to run down their contracts and then leave on a free transfer and free to negotiate with other clubs, so it would make sense for Lille to attract bids now. We have zero chance of signing either of the players as naturally they want to play at the biggest clubs and we simply cannot compete on wages and Champions League every season. . Just look at the Haaland deal today 9 and a half years, and how on earth can other clubs compete when.Rashford is on Ā£325,000 a week and he’s not even playing!
So yet again this site does exactly the opposite of what any real fan would do – it uses it’s “top source” to let the whole world know who we are after. What is the point of Graham Potter being tight lipped and not talking about player transfers, trying to keep the targets we are after under the radar when C&H in all it’s wisdom just tells the whole world who we are after making it public knowledge. And then after the event you will lay the blame somewhere else when we don’t get the target we were after, or have been priced out of the market. Honestly, are you for real? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – the way you earn your living continues to hinder and damage our club. Here’s a thought – maybe try writing something that doesn’t give a heads up to every other club about who we are trying to do a deal for – Unbelievable! š¤·
Not gonna happen. We tried before but his agent wanted 10 mil for himself. We said no to that quite rightly. So forget about David
So you think C & B reporting this will scupper any deal because obviously every major club will read this site and find out?
Unbelievable š
Hereās a little insight for you. Agents donāt negotiate in secret. As soon as they know there is interest from one club, they make it known to other clubs so that they can get the best deal. The idea that this site gives out secret club info is ludicrous.
If signing Gomez is a difficult task signing David is monumental.
Signing both is impossible.
Like Potter’s style but needs to be more realistic.
They’d need to have some reason to come here as opposed to go to any of several other places, which is what ?
Guaranteed starters and premier league football is the only incentive
How can we get excited about this.? I believe 10-15 clubs across Europe want them for free next summer. Sorry, donāt think they will choose us unfortunately. But, being free agents in the summer Lyon would surely want to sell them now and get some money from it. So why donāt we make an offer to bring them in now? FFP? Thatās to worry about come next year if we truly believe we can pull this one off. suppose we also have out of contract players and summer sales to balance the books. Exciting freebees in the summer? Dream on. if youāre serious put the money down now.
Who are you trying to kid? We’re be lucky to finish mid table and you think we’re going to get these two on a free transfer? One of the most prolific strikers in Europe in the last 3 or 4 years and your reporting we are going to try and sign him. Behave mate, he will be going to a champions league team. I like this site but you also report a load of rubbish, it gets tiresome to say the least
I guess they all have a responsibility to write up the good the bad and the ugly regardless, and it doesn’t mean they believe it any more than we do, but at least it enables us to find some sort of balance in it all. If these two are the real deal, then there is sense in at least trying a solid offer now. If it fails it fails, but at least it will show some intent.
Same old west ham story though mate. These have been gettable fir years and now they running out of contract and everyone decent will want them, we report that we’re interested. I honestly think I’d be better at buying players for west ham than the Herbert’s we pay millions too, to do so
Totally agree. Scrape up every Ā£ we can afford and make a substantial offer for Jonathan David immediately.
Don’t think about getting him for free in the summer. That will not happen. He’ll go to whoever can pay him the biggest salary and will offer Champion’s League football.
So test the water with an offer and like you say, if it fails it fails.