West Ham United transfer news: No agreement to sign Formosse Mendy
West Ham United hold “no genuine interest” in Amiens defender Formosse Mendy despite contrary reports, according to Football London.
A report on Wednesday (25 January) by Senegalese outlet Wiwsport suggested the Hammers have reached an “agreement” with the player’s entourage, with the 22-year-old preferring a move to the London Stadium instead of Premier League rivals Southampton.
Mendy was part of the Senegal squad at the Qatar World Cup but didn’t start a game under Aliou Cisse, however, has racked up almost 1500 minutes for his Ligue 2 side this term.
Despite the rumoured interest from David Moyes’ side, journalist Jonty Colman shut down such links in his report on Thursday afternoon (26 January).
He wrote: “However, football.london understands that is not the case and when he was first linked with interest from the east London outfit earlier this month, there was also no genuine interest from David Moyes’ side.”
Gulf in class
After West Ham United sanctioned the exit of Craig Dawson to Wolves earlier in this month’s transfer window, many fans expected the club to replenish their defensive stocks.
Everton’s Michael Keane has already been heavily tipped with a move to the London Stadium, so interest arising in Mendy doesn’t come as a surprise.
The defender was a key cog in Amiens’ bids to return to the French top flight, but you can’t help but feel there is a huge gulf in class between West Ham and his current club. Whether Mendy was the player who could live up to the heights of Dawson is still debatable, so it should come as a relief to fans that the interest has been played down.
The club must still look to add a fresh face in defence in the last six days of the window, as Kurt Zouma is an injury risk, while the likes of Thilo Kehrer and Angelo Ogbonna have been rather hit-and-miss this season.
Ogbonna’s contract also runs out at the end of the season, so the necessary reinforcements must be brought into the club.