West Ham approach young Ligue 1 midfielder as they battle PL rivals – report
West Ham are battling Crystal Palace for the signature of young French midfielder Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, with the Premier League rivals both making approaches according to footmercato.
Bellegarde is currently plying his trade at Ligue 1 side RC Strasbourg Alsace as the French side get set for a relegation survival scrap, sitting in 17th position and only two points above Lorient in the final drop spot.
If rumours are true then 22-year-old Bellegarde might not be around to help save the strugglers as West Ham and Crystal Palace get set to battle it out for his signature.
As reported by French outlet footmercato, the Premier League rivals who are separated by just four points have “approached the player’s entourage in recent days to know his intentions”.
The French youth international, who is of Haitian descent, only joined Strasbourg in 2019 after starting his professional career at Lens.
The Hammers drew 1-1 with Palace on December 16, and it will be interesting to see if either team can come out on top in the race for Bellegarde, who can play across midfield but is more regularly seen in the centre.
Beefing up the midfield
Targeting a midfielder looks like sensible thinking from West Ham with the side lacking options in the middle of the pitch.
Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek are the undisputed starters in this West Ham team, let alone the midfield pairing, but they require some quality options behind them to act as cover if either is ever missing.
Both Rice and Soucek have played every single minute of Premier League action this season, a feat only Aaron Cresswell can match for the Hammers, showing the dependency placed on their shoulders.
An injury or suspension to either would leave just captain Mark Noble as a senior replacement at the base of the midfield, and at 33-years-old his best days are behind him, so a younger option who can provide some energy would be a welcome addition to Moyes and his side.
Bellegarde has made 15 Ligue 1 appearances this season, offering a tidy passing completion rate of 82.1% (WhoScored), while he also ranks in the top 30 players for dribbles per game (1.7).
Rice ranks highly at West Ham for both stats, with his 87.6% passing accuracy the highest of all Hammers to play more than 300 minutes in the Premier League, while he also records 1.1 dribbles per game (fourth highest in the squad).
If a deal is moved forward for Bellegarde then it looks like he has the basic attributes to act as potential cover for Rice in the midfield.
In other West Ham news, Super Fans react to Spurs interest in this Hammer.