West Ham United push to seal finer details of Kalvin Phillips loan from Manchester City amid 11th-hour hijack threat
West Ham and Manchester City are close to agreeing a loan deal to take Kalvin Phillips to the London Stadium for the rest of the season, according to the Daily Mail.
The paper reported via their website on Monday evening (22 January) that the “finer details” remain to be sorted but the Irons “are hopeful of completing the transfer early this week”.
While there is a belief at the London Stadium that they are in “pole position” to close a deal for the England international there still remains a late hijack risk.
Juventus are reportedly “lurking and could yet make a late move” for the 28-year-old, who is personally thought to be ready to head to West Ham as soon as possible.
The Hammers are also happy to keep the former Leeds United star on a permanent basis if he joins, although his sizeable City wages are a potential obstacle to that.
Home stretch
Should West Ham succeed in getting this deal across the line in an affordable fashion it would be some coup considering Phillips has been of interest to numerous clubs.
Newcastle and Crystal Palace have both been tipped as possible favourites to land him, while there was a suggested route to him joining Three Lions teammate Harry Kane at Bayern Munich [The Sun, 19 October].
City’s high demands for a multimillion pound loan fee have been an issue for everyone but the Hammers look to have come out on top of other Premier League clubs, so if Juventus were to steal in at this late stage it would be a huge frustration.
It would be a surprising if West Ham agreed to shell out over £5million for half a season of a player who Pep Guardiola has seemingly never had a true use for despite spending £42m two summers ago [Sky Sports].
So if a deal is nearing the assumption is that Tim Steidten’s revamped recruitment department may have managed to negotiate the finances down.
Phillips would provide high-profile cover for Edson Alvarez’s injury, thought to keep him out for the next 10 days [Premier Injuries], but if the England man does arrive he is surely going to start more often than not.
Danny Ings’ strong showing against Sheffield United aside a striker still seems to be the most obvious need in the Irons squad.
The club weren’t able to get one in before the deadline in the summer after paying a lot of attention to the midfield, so surely need to avoid a repeat of that this month.
In other West Ham news, Dharmesh Sheth says that the Hammers are working on two left-sided attackers before the window shuts.
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