West Ham United make ‘significant progress’ towards signing Nayef Aguerd and Alphonse Areola
West Ham have made “significant progress” on their first two signings of the summer transfer window according to Express journalist Ryan Taylor.
The talks with Rennes over centre-back Nayef Aguerd have moved onto finer details regarding individual add-ons, while the club will also make goalkeeper Alphonse Areola’s move from Paris Saint-Germain permanent for £7.6million.
The Guardian had reported the club offering €5million in add-ons to take the total value of the deal for the Moroccan defender up to €35million, and Taylor says discussions are “advancing”, with European qualification among the terms.
He wrote on Twitter Wednesday morning (1 June): “West Ham making significant progress on first two summer signings. Talks advancing with Rennes for Nayef Aguerd.
“Add-ons, including European qualification + appearances under discussion. Nothing agreed yet.
“Hammers will also trigger £7.6m option to buy Alphonse Areola.”
Fast start
The club appear to have wasted no time in addressing some of the things that needed sorting over the summer.
It is encouraging that they are advancing so quickly on Aguerd, despite the price increasing pat what was expected, since central defence was a concern this year.
The Areola move was logical for the price, having performed well in the Europa League, and Fabrizio Romano had previously indicated the club were ready to go forward on that.
With Lukasz Fabianski now 37 it’s reasonable to assume that the Frenchman will replace him as the league starter as well before too long.
But the pace of developments on Aguerd is the key focus for now, as the Hammers aren’t willing to let one of top defenders from Ligue 1 this season fall through their fingers.
European qualification is very much a going concern in any such negotiations now after a number of years where selling clubs might have scoffed if such a clause was included, with back-to-back qualifying seasons for the first time since 2014-2016.
Arguably more important in fans eyes however will be finally adding a new striker since it is now a year-and-a-half and counting since Sebastien Haller left.
As with the hopes of signing help in the midfield department there have been a number of names mentioned, but there so far doesn’t appear to be anything imminent.
If the Irons continue to make progress when it comes to those areas then supporters will be justifiably optimistic ahead of next season.
In other West Ham news, one influential figure from this season looked to be on the verge of tears as he spoke about the emotional heart to heart he had with a key player on the last day of the season.
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