West Ham United chase Elye Wahi after failed Chelsea bid amid frustration over Folarin Balogun from Arsenal
West Ham are “preparing an offensive” to sign Elye Wahi due to difficulties in pursuing Folarin Balogun, according to Get French Football News.
The outlet reported via their website on 10 August that sources had told them the Hammers were ready to go after the Montpellier youngster, who has already been subject of a rejected €28million [£24m] bid from Chelsea, and were already “in talks with the player” to gauge his interest before a “more concrete approach”.
According to GFFN Wahi, 20, is one of the “most sought-after” talents in Ligue 1, and the Irons have turned their attentions to him in a big way having struggled to agree “provisional terms” with Arsenal forward Folarin Balogun, who “favours a move abroad at this stage”.
West Ham need help up front after selling Gianluca Scamacca to Atalanta and with Michail Antonio thought to be pushing to leave as well this summer.
Time running out
As with all the Irons’ incoming business now everything has been compressed into the final few weeks of the window, just as the Premier League campaign is getting under way.
Very belatedly David Moyes has started securing replacements for Declan Rice in the midfield, with Edson Alvarez already announced and James Ward-Prowse not far off.
Neither are going to available for the trip to Bournemouth in the opener (12 August), highlighting the struggles the club have gone through in transfer pursuits, albeit partly self-inflicted.
They are going to need to speed things up dramatically to replace Scamacca, so if they are about to push hard to sign Wahi it won’t be before time, and as it appears Chelsea are heavily distracted by their own pursuit of midfielders currently they may have a clear run.
With 29 Ligue 1 goals in the past two seasons combined at the age of just 20, it is obvious why Premier League clubs are after the young Frenchman, and while he may prove to be cheaper than trying to sign Balogun from a London rival he is unlikely to be a total bargain.
The Gunners forward, 21, netted 21 times on loan at Stade de Reims in France himself last term, but given how long it took to negotiate the Declan Rice sale to the Emirates it could be another slog even if he was interested.
If West Ham can convince Wahi that his future lies at the London Stadium it would tick off another badly-needed piece of business, but he would certainly need to prove more successful than last year’s headline striker arrival.
In other West Ham news, a “monstrous” bid is now being lined up to take yet another key man away from East London.