West Ham-linked Szalai gets price tag – Dharmesh Sheth provides update
West Ham United are still pursuing a central defender in January and Hungary ace Attila Szalai is on David Moyes’ shortlist.
The Fenerbahce player has been attracting interest from a number of Premier League clubs but the Hammers believe they can get a deal done before anyone else.
And now they have an idea of the rough price they will need to pay thanks to Dharmesh Sheth on Sky Sports’ Transfer Show.
“The Fenerbahce and Hungary defender Attila Szalai attracting interest from the Premier League and Serie A,” Sheth said, “We’ve been told that West Ham United and Newcastle United are looking at him, AC Milan are looking at him – all three clubs in the market for a central defender.
“Last month, actually the Hungary manager Marco Rossi said that he believes Szalai was going to join Chelsea in this transfer window. We still think that there might be a tentative interest there.
“What do we know about Szalai? 23 years old, his contract at Fenerbahce runs until 2025, and it’s thought it would take around £12.5-16.5million to sign him. He played every minute of Hungary’s Euro 2020 campaign and he’s a left-footed central defender, which a lot of clubs in world football are after.”
A cheaper alternative
West Ham have been linked with a number of defenders in this January period as injuries have kept Kurt Zouma and Angelo Ogbonna out for several games this season.
Zouma is thought to be very close to a return but Ogbonna is set to be sidelined for some time.
Moyes is keen on signing a central defender and one player who had been linked was Bournemouth Lloyd Kelly.
But the Cherries are supposedly asking for “silly” money to sell Kelly in January [Football League World] and Szalai is proving to be a much cheaper alternative.
The 23-year-old has impressed at Fenerbahce this season with the Turkish side sitting seventh in the Super Lig with half of the season still to go.
A price tag like the one being touted could do wonders for the club and it would be a good investment for the Hammers too.
In other West Ham news, the Under-21 captain has left the club for a loan move to MK Dons.