West Ham face ‘Formidable’ competition from Saudi for Steven Bergwijn, personal terms no problem
West Ham are ready to go head-to-head with Saudi clubs to sign Ajax forward Steven Bergwijn, according to Telegraaf.
Writing on their website (13 July), the news outlet report that the Dutch giants are open to allowing the winger to leave for around £25.7million this summer.
That fee is no issue for the Hammers, although they must sell-to-buy first, and personal terms are said to be no problem either, but they face “formidable competition” from Saudi Arabia and the player will make a decision while on holiday about whether to take a lucrative offer from the Gulf state, return to the Premier League or stay with Ajax.
West Ham United to battle Saudi Arabia for Steven Bergwijn
It’s not very often that teams can go up against the money and power of Saudi Arabia in a transfer war and come out on top, but West Ham can say they did that.
Saudi clubs wanted to sign Mohammed Kudus [ESPN, 20 June] but were quickly told where to go, while they also beat off competition to be able to bring in Luis Guilherme earlier in this window [Ben Jacobs, 3 June].
The lure of the Premier League is still a big factor in players’ minds, and will be for several more years too, which gives the Hammers a boost and advantage in these types of battles.
Bergwijn has experienced the Premier League and London before with Tottenham, and it didn’t go too well, so that could go against him.
But Julen Lopetegui is likely to give him more regular minutes than he received in north London which will help sway him, and with personal terms no issue it’s just about being the quickest to an agreement with Ajax.
In other West Ham news, Saudi clubs are “willing to do crazy things” to beat the Hammers to this transfer.
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