West Ham are set to make a new £33million offer for N’Golo Kante “quickly” after their initial bid was rejected, according to Sebastien Vidal.
Writing on his personal X account (20 July), the sports journalist reports that the Hammers had an initial £25million bid turned down by Al-Ittihad.
But they are planning to return with a new offer quickly to get a deal over the line, according to one source very close to the matter, with Julen Lopetegui very keen on the 33-year-old despite his price tag far exceeding £20m [Sky Sports Germany, 19 July].
West Ham desperate for N’Golo Kante transfer
A new midfielder was never seen as a priority for West Ham this summer, but the opportunity to sign Kante doesn’t come around very often.
The World Cup winner is keen to return to London [GiveMeSport, 19 July], but he doesn’t want to push through a move away from Saudi [L’Equipe, 19 July] and that means the onus is on the Hammers to agree a deal that they find acceptable.
Kante is also open to taking a major pay cut, which suggests he is more than open to completing a deal to move to the London Stadium.
However, at 33-years-old the club can’t get carried away by just how good he was in his prime as there is no doubt that he isn’t that player anymore.
The whole reason he left Chelsea for Saudi was because his body was struggling to cope with the Premier League, and a transfer with a high fee would be a big gamble.
