West Ham transfers | Frank and Potter lock horns for ‘most attractive free agent’

Coming from somewhat different starting positions, West Ham and Tottenham find themselves seeking out several of the same players for squad upgrades. West Ham’s Graham Potter, who is in need of value with a zero budget – is not a position in which Spud’s Thomas Frank finds himself.

Contrastingly, the north London side need to bolster last seasons’ woeful squad for a brief Champions’ League outing.

So the ‘free’ transfers – especially those which the Hammers have chased after for over a year – are crucial to Potter, if not to Frank who will have a decent enough transfer budget.

Caughtoffside.com and footballfancast.co.uk both suggest that Tottenham are very keen on Hammers’ long term target Kyle Walker Peters, labelling him as the ‘Premier League’s most attractive free agent’:

“Tottenham manager Thomas Frank is reportedly open to the idea of bringing Walker-Peters back to the team. The player’s desire to stay in the Premier League and his loyalty to the club are among the factors that pave the way for this transfer. Despite Tottenham’s competitive backline, sources believe Walker-Peters’ versatility and Premier League experience make him an attractive prospect” 

We know the Irons attempted to bring in Walker Peters from Southampton 12 months ago but were put off by Southampton’s enormous asking price of over £20 million for a player with just 12 months to run on his contract.

That decision may come back to haunt the Hammers a year later, as there’s a far more attractive proposition – even if it turns out, as is likely, to be just a brief appearance in the group stages – for Walker Peters to return to his old club with Champions League football on offer next season.