West Ham United table transfer bid for £40m-plus rated Jeremy Doku in hijack attempt on Manchester City
West Ham have made an offer to Rennes to sign Jeremy Doku despite the winger agreeing personal terms with Manchester City, according to Foot Mercato.
The French outlet reported on their website on 15 August that English clubs are “pushing hard” to sign the 21-year-old Belgian who has reportedly agreed a five-year deal to move to the Etihad, though the European champions have not yet bid while the Hammers “already” have.
The Ligue 1 side reportedly want “at least” €50million [£42.8m] for Doku, described as a “flying” winger by the Daily Mail on 12 August.
City want to sign the 14-cap international in a double-swoop with West Ham star Lucas Paqueta, with a push for the Belgian expected to come after a new bid for the Brazilian star arrives at the London Stadium, but the Irons want to hijack one move as they prepare to lose their man in the other.
Ambitious
West Ham appear to be trying to disrupt Pep Guardiola’s plans just as gets set to disrupt David Moyes’, but how serious the chances of success are remains to be seen.
There would be a certain irony in the Hammers using a large chunk of the massive fee it is going to take for the treble winners to raid the London Stadium for Paqueta at this stage to steal in for Doku.
But West Ham have had enough trouble signing players who actually want to move to the club this summer without getting engaged in late fights for ones who have their hopes directed elsewhere.
Unless they too can work out a deal with Doku ahead of time, so they can be sure that he isn’t going to simply head to Manchester either way, then they would likely be better off saving their energy.
There is plenty of work still to be done in the final fortnight before the deadline, so unless there is a realistic chance of success on the young wide man it will only prove a distraction.
City are hardly short of spending power so if the Hammers are capable of working out a fee with Rennes there is a fair chance they can too, and without some sort of assurance from Doku himself that it is worth pursuing this one may be out of reach already.
In other West Ham news, another exciting attacker has chosen the Irons over interest from multiple Premier League rivals.