West Ham United could have Noa Lang door blown open after matchday snub
A player West Ham United wanted to sign this summer was Club Brugge star Noa Lang but the Belgian champions refused to sell him.
The 23-year-old was on the radar of both the Irons and Premier League rivals Leeds United this summer and Calcio Mercato reported on 2 October that the Hammer were still on the hunt.
Brugge were unwilling to sell him in the summer having already seen Charles De Ketelaere leave to join Serie A champions AC Milan in a mega-money move.
Lang was earmarked to take on a vital role for Brugge this season but things have taken a turn for the worse at the Jan Breydel Stadium and he is now out of favour.
Just one goal and two assists in eight matches this season has seen manager Carl Hoefkens grow impatient with the 23-year-old and, according to Voetbal Primeur, he has now left him out of the squad entirely to face Anderlecht on Sunday (16 October), the team West Ham just beat in the Europa Conference League.
If ties between Hoefkens and Lang have now been entirely severed then the Irons have to act very quickly to take advantage of the wide-open goal they have just been presented, even with the January window still months away.
The five-time Dutch international may now be on the ropes in Brugge and a sale in the winter transfer window may well come their way as they have been very successful without him in the Champions League, where he is yet to make an appearance this season.
Hoefkens has led the Belgian champions to the top of their group which includes Atletico Madrid, Port and Bayer Leverkusen all without one of the stars of last season.
He won’t have lost his talent in that time but perhaps there is something going on behind the scenes to cause this commotion.
Nevertheless, West Ham simply must use this opportunity to rob Club Brugge of a true top talent and get themselves a proper bargain in the January sales.