West Ham United want to move on from Harry Maguire saga with new arrival within days
West Ham are hoping to sign an alternative centre-back to Harry Maguire later this week, according to Jacob Steinberg.
The Guardian reporter revealed on Tuesday (15 August) that West Ham had pulled the plug on signing Manchester United’s Maguire after growing frustrated over how long the deal was taking to complete.
Steinberg later confirmed on his personal Twitter page that the Irons intend to get a deal over the line for another defender “this week”.
Bayer Leverkusen’s Jonathan Tah is said to have been offered to West Ham, who have also been linked with the likes of Stuttgart’s Konstantinos Mavropanos and Nice ace Jean-Clair Todibo.
Time ticking down
West Ham felt they could not wait any longer for Maguire to join and have instead turned their focus elsewhere ahead of the 11pm deadline on 1 September.
That appears to be a smart call on the face of it as they cannot afford for the window to close without another new player being brought in to bolster their backline.
The longer the search goes on, the more anxious supporters will grow, but it appears as though the East London side are on the verge of getting a deal over the line for an unnamed player.
Should that be Leverkusen’s Tah, United would be signing a cultured defender who has eight seasons of Bundesliga experience under his belt, as well as being capped 16 times by Germany at senior level.
Maguire may be a big name, and the £30m deal that was said to be in place with United would have been a decent fee on the face of it, but the other names in the frame should get supporters equally as excited.
With Edson Alvarez and James Ward-Prowse also arriving over the past week, David Moyes’ squad is finally starting to take shape for the 2023-24 campaign.
In other West Ham news, a first-team regular is reportedly edging closer to the London Stadium exit.