West Ham United talks with Fenerbahce for Attila Szalai break down
West Ham have backed out of negotiations to sign Attila Szalai from Fenebahce after the talks broke down, according to Fotomac in Turkey.
The Hammers would reportedly not reach the numbers that the Super Lig giants required and so an agreement could not be reached.
David Moyes has been targeting centre-backs after Nayef Aguerd’s injury, and with Issa Diop now sold to Fulham he has been left with only one fully fit player at the position in Kurt Zouma.
It looked like the move for the Hungarian international Szalai was progressing well, and the Fotomac report confirms that West Ham were the most serious of the teams to come in for him, but he won’t be arriving in east London.
Talks are still progressing with Paris Saint-Germain for German international Thilo Kehrer so he could still be the answer to the problem.
While Gianluca DiMarzio reports that an offer has been made for Polish defender Jacob Kiwior from Spezia.
Block
The club appear to be working on multiple deals at once to address the crisis in defence, presumably for this exact eventuality, and it’s a good thing they are because they need to fix it quickly.
Szalai looked like he could be quite a cheap option, but it appears that was more a matter of wishful thinking and not what Fenerbahce had in mind.
Kehrer is probably the stronger option if they can get him, but it will raise the question as to who gets benched when everybody is fit.
The bid for Kiwior is reportedly only £10million, which would make him the cheapest of all three, although whether the value of the deal is as good based on his quality is a separate matter.
The breakdown of the Szalai move is far from the first one the club have had this summer, as the list of players they have been in for continues to grow.
And as the Irons are forced to move onto other options it necessarily means they are looking at lower and lower priorities, which could be cause for concern once they actually get one through the door.