West Ham key target can not be hijack by Chelsea as Liverpool switch focus to £30m centre-back
French wonderkid and Forest star on Chelsea shopping list after Olise snub as Liverpool look at Ecuadorian option – it’s the Premier League transfer rumours.
It’s been an eventful day at Stamford Bridge, with Crystal Palace’s Michael Olise performing a stunning about face and signing a new contract at Selhurst Park, leaving Chelsea looking elsewhere for an addition to their forward line. And that addition could well be Brennan Johnson.
The Guardian are reporting that discussions over Nottingham Forest’s £45m-rated are at “an early stage” and that a part-exchange deal could be on the cards, although quite who Chelsea have left to sell is unclear. Sport Witness, meanwhile, have spotted that an RMC Sport journalist reckons the Blues are more interested in Lyon’s 20-year-old forward Bradley Barcola, who notched up 13 goal contributions in Ligue 1 last season.
Paris Saint-Germain have apparently already bid for Barcola and had an offer worth up to €35m rejected, so he wouldn’t be an especially cheap alternative to Olise, but he is considered a pretty exciting prospect even by the standards of Lyon’s stellar academy.
The 3AM Verdict: Johnson is a player who passes the eye test with flying colours but whose underlying numbers aren’t very impressive – but given the volume of interest in him, quite a few clubs reckon that the stats don’t quite tell the story. Barcola, meanwhile, is very raw and has only started 18 league games for Lyon, but does look like a pretty huge talent. The asking price for both players seems pretty steep however, especially compared to Olise.
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Italian clubs expect West Ham United to sign Mavropanos amid advanced negotiations – Fabrizio Romano
Romano’s Tweet read: “Konstantinos Mavropanos was close to Serie A move last week — West Ham are now leading the race to sign him.
“Negotiations advancing with Stuttgart and Italian clubs also believe Dinos will join West Ham.
“Focus on Mavropanos as Maguire deal currently off.”
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Moving for a defender other than Maguire was not part of the plan for David Moyes’ side, but they had to take swift action after being left frustrated with how long it was taking Maguire to finalise his Man United exit.
The Europa Conference League winners are expected to pay around €50million (£42.7m) for the Greek centre-back [90min], making him a more expensive option than Maguire – although that does not take into account wages across the length of the contract.
Mavropanos has previously played in the Premier League with West Ham’s London rivals Arsenal, though he was used just seven times across two seasons before departing.
The 25-year-old has made more of a name for himself in the Bundesliga with Stuttgart over the past few campaigns, and the Reds now look set to make a huge profit on the £4.5m they paid to sign him permanently in May 2022.
While he may not be a household name in the same way as Maguire is, Mavropanos is a more-than-solid centre-back, one who can also provide a goal threat – always a nice bonus trait for any centre-back to posses.
Indeed, the former Arsenal player has scored six goals across the past two Bundesliga seasons, and ranked in the top one percentile for shots among defenders across Europe’s top five leagues last season [The Analyst].
Mavropanos may take a bit of time to settle in at a new club, but it is an exciting signing nonetheless and allows West Ham to move on from the drawn-out Maguire saga.
In other West Ham news, Teddy Sheringham has singled out a player who would make an “ideal” signing for Moyes.
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