West Ham United target Wolves star Max Kilman as Fabricio Bruno transfer collapses
West Ham United have turned their attentions to Max Kilman after a deal for Fabricio Bruno collapsed, according to Dean Jones.
Speaking to GiveMeSport (31 May), the journalist reports that a deal for the Brazil international has fallen through after a personal terms couldn’t be agreed upon between the two parties [Vene Casagrande, 30 May].
And now the club want to show new manager Julen Lopetegui that he continues to have the backing of the board in the window, and attention could now turn to the Spaniard’s former Wolves captain Kilman as an alternative.
“If the deal can not be saved, then it is likely West Ham will try to salvage their trip to Brazil by tying up another deal there, and there are various ones they have been looking into,” he said.
“But more importantly than that I would expect them to quickly find a new defensive target, because they do not want Julen Lopetegui thinking this pattern is going to continue.
“They want to show him very quickly that he has backing and that signings will be coming in, but of course the terms around any deal need to suit Tim Steidten, and it sounds like this particular Bruno one is not doing that.
“One deal to look out for might be Max Kilman at Wolves. He’s more expensive than Bruno and a pretty hard get, but I have been told recently that they like him, along with a few other teams.”
West Ham must act quickly with busy summer window expected
West Ham are expected to see a lot of transfer business this summer, whether it be incomings or outgoings at the London Stadium.
But as we saw with his time at Wolves, if Lopetegui doesn’t get what he wants in a transfer window or what he was promised then he isn’t afraid to walk away.
It’s clear that a new defender or two is necessary with big interest in Nayef Aguerd [Le10Sport, 11 May] plus Angelo Ogbonna leaving at the end of his contract, leaving just Kurt Zouma and Dinos Mavropanos as first-team centre-back options.
But a move for Kilman isn’t likely to be easy or straightforward, although Wolves are said to have some issues with FFP and PSR which means they could be forced into a sale.
The board are clearly being active in the window, and he may have to wait a little bit longer than initially thought, but Tim Steidten is hard at work and Lopetegui will get backed in the window for sure.
In other West Ham news, Southampton want to sign a third Hammers ace.
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