West Ham United transfer update: Harvey Barnes exit from Leicester City answers expected ‘very quickly’ amid Newcastle push
Developments on Harvey Barnes’ potential departure from Leicester City to West Ham should start to come “very quickly” now according to Dean Jones.
The Hammers want to sign the 25-year-old winger after the Foxes were relegated to the Championship, and were thought to be leading the race to do so according to The Guardian’s Jacob Steinberg on 9 June.
However his report on Wednesday (5 July) said that Newcastle had now surged to the front of the queue, but noted that the Irons now have plenty of cash to spend after the agreement to sell Declan Rice to Arsenal, and Jones feels answers should be on the way soon.
The former Eurosport journalist told GIVEMESPORT: “I think we’ll start to see that move forward very quickly in terms of finding out how much he will cost and whether he’s willing to commit to a move to a club like West Ham, or whether he’s looking to keep his options open for a little bit longer.”
No time to lose
Barnes looks like exactly the sort of player that would thrive in a David Moyes side at West Ham in much the same way that Jarrod Bowen does.
And with the likes of Pablo Fornals, Maxwel Cornet and Said Benrahma possibly following Manuel Lanzini out of the club there is certainly going to be room to add him.
Any player who scores 13 Premier League goals from the wing is an attractive option, not least in a side that ends up being relegated.
So West Ham will have to be decisive in the race to sign him if they are serious about it, because there looks to be no shortage of other interest.
Newcastle just spent big money on Sando Tonali and may not be prepared to immediately meet Leicester’s asking price, so perhaps the Irons need to take the initiative.
Now the long-awaited agreement Rice’s exit has been reached and his move is close to being made official it should mean the club are freed up to make decisions on various other moves, and it sounds like Barnes may need to be a priority.
In other West Ham news, a Hammers player “can’t wait” to leave and there is hope that “crazy” Arsenal moves could help it happen.