West Ham United hold talks with Lorient for Terem Moffi amid Youssef En-Nesyri Sevilla approach
West Ham have held talks over a transfer for Terem Moffi in addition to the approach they have made for Youssef En-Nesyri, 90min reports.
Attacking help is on the agenda in the January window despite the big-money summer signing of Gianluca Scamacca, who has scored seven times this season but only three have come in the Premier League.
There have been conflicting noises emerging over whether the Hammers have been working towards a deal for Lorient striker Moffi or not, with Express journalist Ryan Taylor reporting (9 January) that he had heard there was “nothing” to the links at the same time as other sources suggesting the opposite.
Now, 90min report a day later that West Ham have in fact been in talks over a deal for the Nigerian forward, who is also a target for Southampton.
The 23-year-old has scored 10 Ligue 1 goals in 16 appearances this season, and according to the latest report: “90min understands that West Ham are exploring a potential deal for the Nigeria international.”
Serious
It looks like this one does have some legs, but whether the Irons can get it across the line is another matter, with competition high for Moffi.
His scoring record this season is strong, and 32 league goals in the French top flight over the past two and a half seasons for a young player is enticing.
Foot Mercato reported on 8 January that Southampton had made an offer of more than €10million [£8.8million] for the player who is also of interest to Everton and it was rejected, so it is clearly going to take a fair amount more than that.
But that is a very small price for a goalscorer with a record like Moffi’s, and with the links to En-Nesyri now more than two years in the making there has to be doubts that the Moroccan will ever arrive in East London.
The Hammers spent big on Scamacca but his move, like so many this season, is yet to be a clear success.
So if Moffi is available without having to spend a huge fee there is a logic to adding more firepower, although David Moyes is going to need to work out how to use any January arrivals since he hasn’t proven capable so far of getting a tune out of the record summer spend.