Kaveh Solhekol wants Caleta-Car to make Premier League switch as West Ham eye loan-to-buy
Kaveh Solhekol would love to see Marseille centre-back Duje Caleta-Car join a Premier League club amid interest from West Ham.
Speaking on Sky Sports News last night, Solhekol reported that the Irons are keen to sign Caleta-Car, 25, in a loan-to-buy deal.
However, it is understood that David Moyes may struggle to strike a deal with Marseille, who want a straight-up permanent sale.
“Today (Monday), there were some reports that [Caleta-Car] could be an option for West Ham and he is one of the centre-backs options for West Ham,” said Solhekol on Sky Sports News’ Transfer Show on Monday [24 January, 07:35pm].
“The only sort of sticking point is that West Ham want a centre-back on loan with an option to buy. But as far as Marseille are concerned, they went a permanent deal.
“They value him at about €20million (£16.8million).
“It remains to be seen if Moyes is ready to spend that sort of money.
“The West Ham owners have said to Moyes if you want to sign players, the money is there.”
Solhekol added: “It’ll be good to see Caleta-Car in the Premier League just to see how good he is.”
Caleta-Car – again
West Ham always seem to be linked with Caleta-Car.
The Croatia international has been in and out of the Marseille starting line-up this season, appearing 15 times in all competitions.
He’s only really played in half of Marseille’s matches, which suggests to us that if he cannot cement his spot in their team, he cannot really be seen as a regular starter for the Irons.
However, a loan-to-buy deal would make sense.
Angelo Ogbonna is out for the rest of the season due to injury so Caleta-Car could cover him and then if he does well enough, Moyes can pull the trigger on a permanent option in the summer.
However, that doesn’t really suit Marseille, who’ll no doubt worry that the permanent option won’t be exercised and Caleta-Car will, as a result, see his transfer value drop.
It’s a tough one for Moyes and you can see why he’s struggled to add to his squad this month.
But a late January deal for Caleta-Car, in the last week of the window, could be handy.
In other West Ham news, a former FIFA official is raving about the PGMOL after what happened in the loss to Manchester United.