West Ham in talks with Spanish giants over star as £17m ‘dry deal’ is demanded. West Ham are in talks with Spanish giants over a star as a £20m ‘dry deal’ is demanded after an initial loan deal was mooted.
West Ham splashed out £40m to bring in Max Kilman in their latest transfer. And the Hammers are very much actively looking to sign a new central defensive partner for him too.
Jean-Clair Todibo, Oumar Solet and Fikayo Tomori have all been strongly linked. Centre-back is not the only position West Ham need to address, though.
The Hammers are targeting another five signings before the window shuts. But in order to do that, money does need to be raised through player sales.
Flynn Downes has been sold for £18m to Southampton and West Ham want to ship out Kurt Zouma, Nayef Aguerd and Danny Ings too.
Soon to be deposed Hammers captain Zouma hinted he and Aguerd will be moving on in recent interview.
Aguerd has been linked with former club Rennes, Atletico Madrid, Lille and Saudi Arabia. But things have gone quiet over the Moroccan’s future of late. In that time it was announced Aguerd had taken the drastic action of changing his agent in order to get a move out of West Ham.
Because West Ham are in talks with Spanish giants Atletico over the star as a £17m ‘dry deal’ is demanded. According to Foot Mercato, Atleti have opened talks with West Ham over a loan deal for Aguerd.
But the Hammers have made it perfectly clear they will only accept either a ‘dry deal’ at £17m or a loan with an obligation to buy.
The report also makes clear that while other clubs are also interested, Lille aren’t one of them despite selling Leny Yoro to Man United.
“According to our information, Atletico Madrid, looking for a central defender for this summer, has targeted the Moroccan,” the report states.
“The Colchoneros want to offer the services of Nayef Aguerd on loan with an option to buy. But this deal does not really suit West Ham who would like to part ways with the player permanently either with a dry transfer or with a mandatory purchase option.
“In this operation, the Hammers, who are therefore open to the departure of the former Dijon player, want to recover around 20 million euros (£17m).”
Inconsistent Aguerd not cut out for the Premier League
Aguerd started last season in the same kind of frustrating error-prone form that has been an unwelcome feature of his time in east London. Ex Hammers boss David Moyes spoke out publicly about Aguerd last season and stated his performances must improve.
Over Christmas it looked like Aguerd had played his last game for West Ham. He made himself unavailable for games over the festive period due to illness.
But he then jetted off to meet up with the Morocco squad for the African Nations. There it was his error that dumped the favourites out of the tournament.
Aguerd found himself benched for much of the second half of the season. If West Ham can recoup over half of the £30m they paid Rennes for the defender then it would be decent business.
Especially if it helps the Hammers bring in a new centre-back of Lopetegui and Steidten’s choosing.
