West Ham United must now turn attention towards Kyle Walker-Peters after Mazraoui news
West Ham United are still on the lookout for a right-back after Ben Johnson chose to exit the London Stadium upon the expiry of his contract.
The Hammers finished in a respectable ninth-place last season but it wasn’t thanks to their defence.
David Moyes’ side had the fourth-worst defensive record in the top flight last season and only managed to finish as high as they did due to the performances of Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen.
Julen Lopetegui will be hoping to outperform last term’s results and perhaps even make a charge for European football.
The London-based club has had some decent success in Europe recently with the team winning the Europa Conference league during the 2022/23 season.
One key area of reinforcement for the Hammers this summer is that of their defence.
Max Kilman has already joined and West Ham thought that they’d found their new right-back in Noussair Mazraoui.
But, despite a deal being agreed between the clubs and even for the player, a move failed to come to fruition, as per Sky Sports Germany journalist Florian Plettenberg.
This now begs the question of who could the Hammers target now?
Enter, Kyle Walker-Peters.
Kyle Walker-Peters would be an ideal transfer for West Ham United this summer
Walker-Peters had a strong season last term for Southampton in the Championship and managed to contribute to a total of six goals in 47 games.
Whilst this return isn’t the most enthralling, the fact that for the vast majority of the season, he was deployed in full-back shows that his attacking contribution is solid.
He would be an ideal match for Lopetegui’s team and would help alleviate some pressure off of the shoulders of Vladimir Coufal.
The Hammers have had a prior interest in the defender but felt that the £23million the Saints were demanding [West Ham Football,18 July] was too steep.
Talks between the clubs and the player have been ongoing [Dharmesh Sheth, 21 July] but now the deal for Mazraoui has been called off, it feels like a no-brainer for the Hammers to at least try and pry the right-back away from the newly promoted team.
In other West Ham news, the Hammers have submitted a £15million bid for an attacking target.
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