West Ham United ready to abandon James Ward-Prowse deal as Southampton respond to second transfer bid
The second West Ham bid for James Ward-Prowse has been rejected by Southampton and the club are now ready to abandon their pursuit, Jacob Steinberg reports in The Guardian.
The Southampton captain reportedly wants to leave the relegated Saints but they are holding out for £40million to let him go.
West Ham feel that the 28-year-old’s best move is to make a move to the London Stadium and aren’t prepared to meet the asking price due to his age, despite being a “key” target for David Moyes, so won’t go above £25m.
According to Steinberg (31 July): “Ward-Prowse wants to leave Southampton after their relegation and Moyes is an admirer of the 28-year-old’s set-piece expertise.
“However, West Ham, who are willing to include Downes as part of a deal with Southampton, are reluctant to pay over the odds.
“They see no resale value in Ward-Prowse given he will be 29 in November and have concerns over meeting his wages of about £100,000 a week.”
While for Mail Plus Simon Jones wrote: “The offer of £20m plus £5m in add-ons may be left on the table for James Ward-Prowse as West Ham believe they are his best option.”
Risky
While not all might be classified as official bids it seems clear that Southampton aren’t ready to step back on their valuation of Ward-Prowse after multiple attempts.
There are obviously parallels between Arsenal’s pursuit of Declan Rice, with the obvious caveat that Southampton have been relegated.
If West Ham have capped what they are willing to spend, either in guaranteed money or after add-ons, for the England international at £25m then there looks to be little chance of success barring a change of heart at St. Mary’s as the gap is significant.
So the Irons are going to need to pursue their alternative targets with purpose and assume that Ward-Prowse is out of reach, as it would be extremely risky to wait in hope of the landscape changing as deadline day nears.
It may be that the midfielder pushes to move before the window closes and the stance at Southampton alters, but West Ham need midfield options as a priority and gambling on other clubs would be dangerous.
With a push for Youssouf Fofana on the cards a second, likely more advanced, midfielder would need to be paired with the Monaco man if Ward-Prowse is no longer an option.
But either way the difference of opinion between Moyes and Tim Steidten has to stop the Hammers from lurching between one target and another without following pursuits to their conclusions, successful or otherwise.
It looks like a top Moyes man isn’t gettable for the right price, so while he might come into play later in August the decisions on the Southampton skipper looks like it has been made.
In other West Ham news, a first-team favourite has made a plea to the owner to let him leave after a Premier League club made three offers for him.