West Ham United make official move to sign World Cup winner after Crysencio Summerville
West Ham are one of three teams to have made a recent approach to free agent midfielder Guido Rodriguez, Sports Digitale reports.
According to the Turkish outlet via X on 2 August the Hammers have been in contact with the Argentine in the past 48 hours alongside Istanbul giants Fenerbahce and the player’s former side Real Betis.
The World Cup winner has had “official” advances from all three after his contract expired with the Spanish club this summer.
The Hammers are also on the brink of sealing a deal for Leeds United winger Crysencio Summerville [Graham Smyth, 2 August] and are also working on a new striker.
West Ham also look to land Niclas Fullkrug
In response to a frustrating stretch where the number of transfer failures were outnumbering the successes the sudden explosion of intent should get fans re-engaged in the operation under Tim Steidten and Julen Lopetegui.
Despite the welcome arrivals of Luis Guilherme and the manager’s former favourite at Wolves Max Kilman a thin squad still requires fleshing out in various areas.
It could easily be argued that the need for a striker outweighs all other priorities so the fact that there still appears to be wrangling over Borussia Dortmund’s Niclas Fullkrug and Aston Villa’s Jhon Duran is frustrating [Florian Plettenberg, 1 August].
But if Dutch winger Summerville is in within hours and Steidten can push a deal for the German striker over the line, then Aaron Wan-Bissaka may finally arrive before a free agent midfielder is quickly brought in as well the entire situation would be looking a lot stronger at the London Stadium.
Rodriguez has 30 caps for Argentina and won the World Cup in Qatar but left Betis this year, so having been allowed to depart it may give the Irons the edge of his former side.
Lopetegui has had a clear interest in adding a central midfielder since his arrival, despite the Irons being well stocked in that area compared to others, so if a deal can be done for the in-demand free agent it should fit within the budget far better than a big-money offer for the likes of Youssouf Fofana would have done.
In other West Ham news, the Irons face the risk of a hijack from some heavy hitters as they push to land Fullkrug.
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