West Ham match Everton offer for Hugo Ekitike as PSG stance revealed
West Ham have matched the offer of Everton for Hugo Ekitike, but Paris Saint-Germain are pushing the young striker to join Frankfurt, according to Sports Zone.
The French news outlet reported on Twitter on Monday [28 August] that the Premier League pair have each offered €35million (£30m) upfront, plus €5m (£4.3m) in bonuses.
It is claimed that Ekitike was close to agreeing personal terms with West Ham, but PSG would rather he join Frankfurt as a makeweight to sign Randal Kolo Muani.
Ekitike is not happy about being used as a bargaining chip, although the Frankfurt project is said to interest him.
Other options
West Ham clearly mean business this summer, having so far brought in Edson Alvarez, James Ward-Prowse, Konstantinos Mavropanos and Mohammed Kudus.
Even when accounting for the loss of Declan Rice to Arsenal, plus the departures of the likes of Gianluca Scamacca and Manuel Lanzini, the Hammers’ squad now looks stronger than it did a couple of months ago.
Signing another striker would make this close to the perfect transfer window for David Moyes, and Ekitike is clearly a player West Ham are fond of.
Links with the Reims academy product are nothing new, but it appears PSG will wait until very late in the window to accept the Hammers’ offer as they are eager to bring in Muani from Frankfurt.
If West Ham do indeed have around £35m to spend on a striker, then it may make sense to turn their focus elsewhere at this point.
The window has just three days left to run, meaning time is fast ticking down to land that elusive centre-forward.
Ekitike is very talented, but there are other options out there in that price range who could do a job for United.
In other West Ham news, two more players are expected to depart the London Stadium this week.