West Ham face heavy competition from Burnley for £10m-rated Joe Worrall
West Ham are eyeing a move for Nottingham Forest defender Joe Worrall but face heavy competition from Burnley, according to The Athletic.
The Premier League duo, alongside Crystal Palace, have been credited with an interest in the former England youth international, who captained the Under-17 side to glory at the 2017 Toulon Tournament, and he was named as the tournament’s second-best player for his displays.
However, The Athletic claim that the Clarets are leading the race for his signature with the player understood to be “receptive” to a move to Lancashire.
The 24-year-old is available for around £10million, as per The Athletic’s report.
Worrall came through the Forest youth academy and was part of a “formidable” centre-half duo in 2019 [The Athletic], while made 31 appearances for the Championship side last season.
Balbuena replacement?
It appears as though Burnley have the edge on us at the moment, but if we firm up our interest then surely Worrall has an easy decision to make.
Not only are we a much bigger club than them, and will be playing in the Europa League next season, but his chances of first-team football are actually probably better at the London Stadium, bizarrely.
That’s because Clarets boss Sean Dyche has consistently shown that he prefers to stick with the tried and trusted players at the club, with big-money moves for defenders like Ben Gibson going down the pan previously.
David Moyes, meanwhile, rotated his defenders last season, with Fabian Balbuena and Issa Diop both handed chances to impress before the Scot settled on the experienced duo of Craig Dawson and Angelo Ogbonna.
Balbuena is set to depart the club later this month after his contract runs out, while Diop has failed to prove his worth under Moyes, so another central defender is surely on his agenda, especially with the added workload next season with European football coming to east London.
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