West Ham and Aston Villa in last-gasp transfer showdown to sign Jan Bednarek from Southampton
West Ham and Aston Villa will go head to head in a bid to sign Southampton centre-back Jan Bednarek in the coming days, according to the Sunday Mirror.
The newspaper reported via their print edition on 28 August (page 72) that Bednarek, 26, is no longer in Ralph Hasenhuttl’s plans at St Mary’s with the Poland international finding himself an unused substitute in each of Southampton’s last two Premier League games.
It is understood that West Ham and Villa both want an experienced centre-back before the transfer window closes on Thursday night (1 September).
Solid back-up
West Ham’s centre-back options have been hit a major blow in the opening weeks of this season due to Nayef Aguerd’s injury.
Angelo Ogbonna and Craig Dawson are also both on the wrong side of 30 and have had injury issues for the opening games, leading to full-back Ben Johnson having to play in the middle of the back-four.
Thilo Kehrer has come in from Paris Saint-Germain and add a good layer of depth but it wouldn’t hurt to continue transforming the centre-back area due to how unreliable some of the players are becoming.
Bednarek has played 133 times in the Premier League.
He’s 26 years old and is capped 42 times by Poland.
The former Lech Poznan centre-back has been a mainstay at Southampton for several years and could add a lot of quality and experience to a defence that has so far struggled this season in more ways than one.
However, Aston Villa are also desperate due to new signing Diego Carlos suffering a long-term injury almost as soon as he arrived in Birmingham.
Bednarek could get more opportunities there but we do have European football to boast in East London and that could sway the Poland international’s decision.