West Ham United news: Jota and Ibrahim Osman January transfer window update – Dharmesh Sheth on Sky Sports
West Ham remain in the market for a left-side forward during the January transfer window and are working on potential deals for Jota and Ibrahim Osman before the deadline, according to Dharmesh Sheth.
The Sky Sports journalist reported on Sky Sports News, via the outlet’s transfer live-blog (2.25pm, 22 January), that moves for the two attackers are still be explored by the Irons, with the arrival of either potentially seeing Said Benrahma leave the club.
Former Celtic man Jota has been frozen out of league games at Al Ittihad since September, despite only leaving arriving for Parkhead in the summer.
But Sheth reports that 24-year-old would have to take a “huge pay cut” from his £200,000-a-week wages in the Saudi Pro League.
Late push
Despite Maxwel Cornet scoring his first goal for the club and Danny Ings putting in one of his strongest performances in a West Ham shirt during the controversial draw at Sheffield United on Sunday (21 January) attacking recruits have long been needed.
Having seemingly made a notable breakthrough in the pursuit of Kalvin Phillips from Manchester City it would make the January window look a lot better at the London Stadium if new arrivals in the forward areas also came in.
Jota may not require much in terms of an up front fee for a player that Al Ittihad look to have decided was an unnecessary signing, but the wages are an obvious stumbling block.
He wouldn’t likely be earning peanuts if he did move to the London Stadium, and the opportunity to play in the Premier League rather than hardly at all in Saudi Arabia might be enough to convince him.
FC Nordsjaelland’s teenage winger Osman won’t be on anywhere near six-figure weekly wages in the Danish league but would presumably require a transfer fee, so a deal for him may depend on the budget, which has been claimed to both be non-existent without sales [Standard, 8 January] and extensive [Alan Nixon, 21 January].
West Ham spent a large part of the summer window being frustrated in all directions, with suggestions of differences behind the scenes between Moyes and Tim Steidten contributing, before landing four high-profile signings late on.
So far the winter window has followed very much the same pattern, so perhaps the Hammers can manage a repeat of the activity before the deadline as well.
In other West Ham news, the Irons have made an offer to a Premier League club to make a signing this month and the response has come out.
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