West Ham United player completes medical to seal January exit – Fabrizio Romano
Thilo Kehrer has completed his medical as a new Monaco player ahead of a loan transfer from West Ham, according to Fabrizio Romano.
The transfer specialist reported via X on Thursday (4 January) that the 27-year-old is now set to complete his move to the Ligue 1 club amid a lack of playing time with the Hammers.
It is understood that the loan deal will be worth £432,000, with a mandatory buy clause to become active for around £9.5million, just shy of the £10.1million transfer fee West Ham paid in 2022, as per Sky Sports.
Missed opportunity
The German defender had proven himself at Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain before his move to East London, making 128 appearances across all competitions.
There was a lot of excitement surrounding his transfer to London Stadium in August 2022 but has seemingly not worked out. Kehrer has not made a Premier League start this season after starting 25 during the last campaign.
David Moyes clearly prefers the defensive partnership of Kurt Zouma and Nayef Aguerd. And even with the former injured and the latter away for the 2023 African Cup of Nations, Konstantinos Mavropanos and Angelo Ogbonna have stepped up to take their places.
Despite a total of 50 appearances in West Ham colours, his future at the club looked doomed from the beginning of the current campaign and has subsequently left on loan to Monaco with a mandatory buy clause.
His last start came in October as the Hammers lost to Olympiacos in the Europa League, being deployed at right-back in a back-four. Moyes’ treatment of the player must have become too much for him and a loan looked like the only option to stop his career stalling.
There is undoubtedly talent there, performing in the Premier League, Europa Conference League and Champions League. He even has 27 caps for Germany on the international stage, so it is weird to see Kehrer leave in such a way.
In other West Ham news, another new contract is now on the table.