By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X).
French Ligue 1 clubs are reportedly keen on signing West Ham midfielder Mohamadou Kanté this summer.
The £500,000 signing from Paris FC was brought to the club by former Director of Football Tim Steidten as very much “one for the future”.
Having spent the early part of last season looking far too good for the Hammers Under-21s, Kanté was eventually drafted into Nuno Espírito Santo’s first-team squad.
The young Frenchman made 11 appearances in limited minutes from the bench but gradually became a trusted member of the manager’s matchday squad.
Nuno Rates The Young Midfielder
Kanté is understood to be highly regarded by Nuno, which made it somewhat surprising to see him linked with a summer exit.
The Athletic recently claimed West Ham would be willing to accept an offer in the region of £15-20 million for the midfielder.
However, a source told Claret & Hugh yesterday:
“The manager really likes him.”
That alone would seem to suggest any decision over Kanté’s future may not be quite as straightforward as some reports have indicated.
| Statistic | Value |
|---|---|
| Player | Mohamadou Kanté |
| Games Played | 11 |
| Minutes Played | 67 |
| Goals | 0 |
| Assists | 0 |
A Championship Season Could Be Perfect
Personally, I think selling Kanté this summer would be a mistake.
He is a player with enormous potential and one who looks perfectly placed to benefit from a season in the Championship.
Regular football, increased responsibility and the physical demands of the division could be exactly what he needs at this stage of his development.
From what we’ve seen so far, there is every chance he could make significant progress over the course of the campaign.
And judging by what we’ve been told, the manager appears to agree.
If other clubs can sell with buyback clauses so should we buyback at £35m is a low risk offer.
He needs game time to fulfil his potential if Nuno won’t start him let him get that experience elsewhere.
Need the experienced players as well as those young legs.
If Nuno is pulling strings and likes him probably will stay.
This deal has whu written all over it wait until eleventh hour and see how rest of transfers pan out.
A gift from Steidten with nice profit for a change.
How much of this is media orientated and where does info stem from.
Would be a very shortsighted decision to sell him now.
But thats what we do
I think he would be a monster in the EFL and a crucial one to keep
If Sullivan sells our fringe young players like Kante We might just as well all give up and go home to bed RIP WEST HAM UNITED
Totally agree, selling the likes of Kante and Fearon would be the final nail in the coffin, the books have to be balanced but not necessary in one hit.
Kante is an obvious sale along with a number of other youngsters as it represents pure profit. The club have a £100m loss in the accounts with have £100m less revenue this year and owe £196m of transfer fees. Torino Kilman Cornet Alvarez will all be sold at big losses Bowen Summerville Diouf Fernandez will all go for less than we want so the only way to recoup is sell youngsters at a profit. Earthy Fearon will be on their way to.
Jeeze Mark I’m glad you’re not in charge of our club😀
Kante is one of the youngsters, you know he is ready. Obviously he is good, like others, but he has that fight in him which you see every single game he plays in. Same way Soucek will always fight on. He also looks like a better passer of the ball ! 😊, but to be fair, Soucek does a lot else for a team.
We must hold on to kante and Bowen and dino if we are are going to have any chance of bouncing back to the premier league. The likes of Kante are our future. I know we have to raise money but selling every valued player is not the way forward.
Luckily the Athletic do not decide West Ham’s transfer policy