West Ham ‘tension is rising’ as James Ward-Prowse deal abandoned over Southampton demands, senior man under ‘scrutiny’
West Ham have decided to “walk away” from their pursuit of James Ward-Prowse after “baulking” at Southampton’s asking price, according to the Daily Mail.
The Hammers have had two bids rejected, with the highest totalling £25million, but the Saints want £30m so West Ham have now “parked” the offers despite being the only club in the Premier League with zero signings this summer.
That is thanks to their move for Manchester City’s Carlos Borges being hijacked by Ajax at the last minute, and as a result of the myriad disappointments technical director Tim Steidten is “under scrutiny” at the club as The Mail claims that “tension is rising behind the scenes”.
The German only arrived at the start of July but hasn’t seen eye to eye with David Moyes over transfer targets, which has exacerbated the slow nature of West Ham transfer business and seen a complete lack of success so far.
Talks are still in progress in a number of directions, but with Declan Rice replacements needed as a priority and various other signings required the situation seems to be becoming untenable.
Ward-Prowse, 28, is seen as a “key” target for the manager, who wants proven Premier League players, but the club appeared ready to give up a couple of days ago (31 July).
Dharmesh Sheth then suddenly reported a day later that “advanced talks” were under way, before the Sky Sports reporter shared a further update that there had been a “twist” and the deal was back off.
Mess
No wonder there is tension when the club are going backwards and forwards on so many deals at once and not ultimately getting any over the line, with the Borges failure possibly the last straw.
The lack of consensus between Moyes and Steidten has rendered one, or possibly both, a lame duck, and it would be no surprise to see either leave before too long as a result.
If Ward-Prowse is one of the manager’s top targets it hardly seems like an insurmountable gulf to be able to increase the bid by £5m and bring him in, which Southampton will no doubt also be thinking after the £105m Rice sale was agreed.
The English midfielder won’t have much sell-on value but if Moyes wants him and the decision has been made to stick with the Scot then the dead-ball specialist is there for the taking.
Steidten is well within his rights to have a view on who should be signed and for how much, since that is literally his job, and he would surely expect to be able to do it when West Ham have only just appointed him.
It isn’t even really the German’s fault that he appears to have been brought into a position where his influence is detrimental, but it surely can’t last if it is preventing deals from getting done.
From the outside it looks like the board have made the dual decision to stick with a manager and then appoint a technical director with a totally different philosophy soon after, and now neither can succeed.
Either one now abandons their principles, in which case their position is rendered meaningless, or one presumably leaves, but right now the Irons are going round in circles and ending up with nothing as they aren’t willing to commit one way or another.
In other West Ham news, contract news has now emerged around another target after a £40m bid was tabled from the London Stadium.