West Ham United table bid to sign Borussia Monchengladbach centre-back Nico Elvedi
West Ham have tabled a bid to sign Borussia Monchengladbach centre-back Nico Elvedi as David Moyes looks for more late recruits this summer, according to Swiss journalist Andreas Boni.
Writing via his personal Twitter account on Tuesday afternoon (30 August), the Blick journalist reported that OGC Nice “have competition” in the race to sign the 25-year-old Switzerland international.
It is understood that a last-gasp move away from Gladbach is on the cards for Elvedi, who has been on the books at the Bundesliga club for the last seven years.
More depth
West Ham’s centre-back options have been light this season so far but that’s mainly down to injuries.
Angelo Ogbonna, Craig Dawson and new signing Nayef Aguerd have all missed games so far this term, leading to Moyes playing Ben Johnson at centre-half with Kurt Zouma.
Thilo Kehrer was brought in as Issa Diop left but it seems that Moyes still wants more recruitment done to bolster his centre-back options before the transfer window slams shut on Thursday at 11pm (1 September).
Elvedi is an experienced player at Gladbach.
Although he’s probably yet to his his peak, the former FC Zurich centre-back has played over 200 times in the Bundesliga, played 27 times in both the Champions League and Europa League and earned 38 caps for the Swiss national team.
According to the Bundesliga website, he’s reminiscent of Manchester City centre-back John Stones for his style of play as he’s elegant on the ball, strong in the air and can play in a three or four-man defence.
West Ham could do worse than signing a player like Elvedi but they do need to be careful about over-stocking the centre-back area as once players are back from injuries, there’ll be too many bodies.
Somebody might have to leave.