West Ham United give up on transfer demands in Pablo Fornals exit development, last-gasp deal now ready to go
West Ham have given up in the past few hours on their demands for a deal to let Pablo Fornals leave, according to AS.
The Spanish outlet reported on their website on 31 January that the Irons are now seemingly prepared to let the 27-year-old head to La Liga on a loan deal with an obligation to buy, or with an option activated by simple criteria.
Therefore a move to the Seville club is now ready as they will also make space on the wage bill with the €16million [£13.7m] sale of Luiz Henrique to Botafogo, and the possible exit of William Carvalho to Besiktas.
West Ham were reported to have previously rejected a loan-to-buy offer for Fornals after deliberately triggered an extra year option in his contract in order to secure a fee [ABC Sevilla, 30 January], but have apparently relented, with Fornals in favour of the move.
Double departure
With Said Benrahma also now seemingly on the brink of a move to Lyon, a deal which is itself set to be for a modest fee, it looks like the Irons are clearing the decks of peripheral characters in the attacking positions.
That would be one half of the desired turnover with replacements coming in to fill the gaps the logical next hope at the London Stadium.
However, landing the next generation of Irons forwards is proving problematic, with the Ibrahim Osman deal having collapsed before the same appears to have resulted from the Jota pursuit [Nawaf al-Aqeel, 31 January].
Coming out of a January transfer window weaker in any area than you came in is never desirable, and while Kalvin Phillips has arrived from Manchester City to bolster an already-strong central midfield group it would leave numbers relative short in attack if Fornals, Benrahma, or both were to leave without reinforcements arriving.
It seems like nothing has been straight forward for incoming or outgoing moves this month but the Spanish fan-favourite looks set to see his move through before the deadline now.
In other West Ham news, a striker linked to the London Stadium now wants a move to agreed before the close of the window.
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