West Ham United to battle Aston Villa for Djibril Sow in January
Djibril Sow is a January transfer target for both West Ham and Aston Villa after his performances with Switzerland at the World Cup, Sport1 reports.
The midfielder started all four of the nation’s games before they were knocked out by Portugal on Tuesday night (6 December), and is “openly aiming for England”.
Eintracht Frankfurt would be loath to lose him in the winter, but a €30million [£25.6million] bid or higher for the 25-year-old is believed to be enough to get them to “wobble”.
The German side know they could lose him in the near future as he has refused to sign a new contract with the Europa League winners.
A summer move is therefore seen as “very likely” since his current deal expires in 2024 and Frankfurt don’t want to lose him on a free transfer.
The club’s sporting director has confirmed to Sport1 that interest has ramped up again for a player who Nottingham Forest made an offer for last summer, and who said just over a year ago: “”In my opinion, the Premier League is the league with the highest attractiveness. The best players compete there.
“I’ve always dreamed of playing in the Premier League.”
Race is on
Sow is sure to be available in the near future but the interest in his services is bound to be much higher at the end of the season.
A head-to-head battle with Villa in January might be the Hammers’ best chance to land a player who has made 24 appearances already this season, including playing the full 90 minutes in all six of Frankfurt’s Champions League games.
Central to the side that qualified behind Brazil only on goal difference from Group G in Qatar, this could be the Irons looking to fill a Declan Rice-shaped hole in the middle of the line-up before it actually arrives.
And if it is a move designed to replace the current captain, the mooted fee it would take to make things move quickly next month would be a small fraction of the expected return if Rice does leave in the summer.
West Ham could of course wait until then and reassess the situation with their star man, but given Tomas Soucek’s future was up in the air for most of the previous window and David Moyes has so far been reluctant to give Flynn Downes more of a go at the base of the midfield there might be room now.
The likelihood that the race for Sow’s signature in the summer spreads open is high so the club may wish to preempt that situation by getting a strong bid in ahead of time.