Bid rejected: West Ham make £22.5m bid for Youssef En-Nesyri, 23 y/o is top target – report
West Ham have had a £22.5million bid for Sevilla striker Youssef En-Nesyri rejected but he remains their top target, as revealed by The Athletic.
After selling club-record signing Sebastien Haller to Ajax in January the Irons are desperate to increase their firepower with only the injury-prone Michail Antonio as a senior option to front the West Ham attack.
David Moyes has been linked with a number of strikers since Haller’s departure but it seems they are stepping up their pursuit of a forward firing in the goals in La Liga this season.
The Athletic’s David Ornstein has exclusively reported that West Ham have offered perennial Europa League champions Sevilla £22.5million, plus add-ons of £4.5million, for the services of Moroccan striker En-Nesyri.
According to Ornstein the Iron’s initial proposal for their top target was rejected but talks are continuing and the club are ‘hopeful’ of signing the 23-year-old.
West Ham have a busy few weeks ahead of them with four fixtures still to play before the conclusion of January and they will hope En-Nesyri can have a part to play in some of them as they bid to secure his services.
Goals, goals, goals
En-Nesyri joined Sevilla a year ago from Leganes and scored four times in the second half of the season to take his La Liga tally to eight, but it is this campaign where he has really taken off and announced himself as one of Europe’s most prolific marksmen.
He has scored eight times in 17 La Liga appearances for the Andalusian club this season while notching a further four in six Champions League games, showing his pedigree at the very highest level.
On January 9 he scored a hat-trick against David Moyes’ former side Real Sociedad in a 3-2 victory with a quick-fire double in the first seven minutes of that game.
Only Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and two others have scored more than En-Nesyri in La Liga so far as he has helped his side to sixth in the division and a safe passage to the last 16 of the Champions League.
Whether he will be tempted to swap the glitz and glamour of Europe’s elite competition for mid-table West Ham remains to be seen but it is certainly a show of ambition from the Irons and is a move fans should be desperate to see happen.
In other West Ham news, see our view on how Manuel Lanzini proved to be the the main man in the Iron’s narrow win over Burnley.