West Ham United offer Nikola Vlasic as part of deal for £30m ‘mountain’, Crystal Palace leading chase
West Ham have offered Nikola Vlasic as part of a deal for Torino defender Perr Schuurs, according to Orazio Accomando.
The DAZN Italia journalist tweeted on 19 July that the Hammers are looking to use the Croatian winger to land the Dutch centre-back, with the Serie A side hoping to receive a fee in the region of £30.4million.
But Accomando said Crystal Palace already have a £2.6million agreement in place with the 23-year-old, who journalist Josh Bunting referred to as a “mountain”.
Bargaining chip
The Hammers have an excellent bargaining chip at their disposal in Nikola Vlasic after the forward impressed while on loan at Torino last season, scoring five goals and laying on eight assists in his 37 appearances.
It’s the right move for the club to try and use the winger in this way, as it’s quite clear he has no future in East London after David Moyes decided to loan him out following a disappointing 2021/22 campaign, where he scored just once in 36 games in all competitions.
That should knock the Serie A outfit’s asking price down a bit, given that West Ham will be looking to recoup a decent chunk of the reported £25.7million they paid to sign Vlasic from CSKA Moscow two years ago [The Guardian].
Moyes has made it clear he wants to add another centre-back to his ranks this summer after Angelo Ogbonna, Nayef Aguerd and Kurt Zouma were all sidelined with injuries last season.
Schuurs, who has recently been linked with Liverpool, could be the perfect man to fill that gap after he impressed in his 33 games for Torino last season since joining from Ajax for £9.8million a year ago.
In other West Ham news, the Hammers appear to have missed out on one of their top targets.