West Ham United: Tim Steidten needs transfer rethink after £16m+ Ibrahim Osman news emerges
James Murray is a lifelong West Ham fan and a current season ticket holder in the Billy Bonds Stand. He’s seen some incredible talents – as well as several forgettable names – don the famous claret and blue shirt since his first game 25 years ago. He’s now putting his passion for West Ham into words with a regular fan view for West Ham Zone…
Ibrahim Osman could be the one that got away for West Ham.
It was pretty clear that the 19-year-old was high up on technical director Tim Steidten’s list of January transfer targets after we were heavily linked with a move for him.
But the Ghanaian forward will not be making the move to the London Stadium after it has emerged that he now looks set for a move to Brighton.
Mike McGrath tweeted on Wednesday (7 February) that the Hammers’ Premier League rivals are closing in on a deal to sign Osman from FC Nordsjaelland in the summer.
The Daily Telegraph journalist said the Seagulls have acted upon their long-standing interest in the teenager after a formal bid was made by West Ham during the January transfer window.
The Athletic journalist David Ornstein tweeted on Wednesday that the move is worth £16.6million and that he has completed a medical ahead of his switch to the Amex Stadium.
Huge blow to West Ham transfer hopes
That marks a huge blow to our transfer plans as Steidten has been making a list of targets for a number of months that could prove to be a future star for the club.
The Hammers have taken on a different approach to recruitment since the German arrived at the club last summer, with lesser-known targets, who could make the club money down the line, now the order of the day at the London Stadium.
Osman was clearly a player that the technical director wanted to bring in and the fact that it’s Brighton who have got their hands on him just makes you think this could be a big one we’ve missed out on.
We’ve all sat back and watched so many young talents come through the door for the Seagulls over the past few years before they’ve managed to turn a huge profit on them within a short space of time.
The most notable sale saw midfielder Moises Caicedo join Chelsea for a whopping £115m last summer.
Hopefully, Osman doesn’t prove to be on that level.
Reason to be optimistic about West Ham
We need to lick and wounds and move on now as the Ghanaian won’t be joining his compatriot Mohammed Kudus in East London.
There will be plenty of names on the list by the time the summer comes around, particularly now that Maximilian Hahn has joined the club as the new Head of Technical Recruitment and Analysis.
The former Werden Bremen scouting and analysis co-ordinator will be scouring the market alongside Steidten over the next few months to see if we can find any potential gems to add to our squad in the summer.
I am a big fan of this new approach as our transfer business has largely been pretty shoddy over the past 20 years.
But there is every reason to believe that things are changing and we could see a number of exciting talents come through the door in the coming years.
I’m looking forward to seeing them in action at the London Stadium.
In other West Ham news, Kevin Nolan has shared what Declan Rice told him about Kalvin Phillips.
For more West Ham news, follow us on Facebook or join our brand new WhatsApp Channel for instant updates to be sent straight to your phone.