West Ham United to sell two strikers for Jhon Duran deal after Niclas Fullkrug confirmed
West Ham may end their pursuit of Jhon Duran after confirming the signing of Niclas Fullkrug, according to Sean Whetstone.
The former Six Foot Two editor reported via his X account on 5 August that sources at the club claim multiple currenet strikers would have to leave in order for the Irons to bring in the Aston Villa man.
Tim Steidten and Julen Lopetegui pushed for the Colombian during the transfer window after identifying him as the top centre-forward target [The Athletic, 12 July].
But negotiations failed to reach an agreement after multiple bids and a £26.5million deal to bring in Fullkrug from Borussia Dortmund [Florian Plettenberg, 2 August] has now been confirmed instead.
West Ham pursuit of Aston Villa forward may be over
Since Villa have been holding out for £40m for Duran [James Nursey, 22 July] it is probably no shock that he is going to be out of reach without significant departures.
Although neither of Fullkrug or Crysencio Summerville [Plettenberg, 3 August] have come in for outrageous fees they to represent approximately £50m in spending, on top of £40m for Max Kilman [Sky Sports, 6 July] and another £25m for Luis Guilherme [BBC Sport, 13 June].
It seemed that the budget wasn’t stretching as it was after the latter two before Steidten came up with an excellent push to get the former duo over the line, with free agent Guido Rodriguez also imminent.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka also remains on the cards from Manchester United even though that pursuit is getting bogged down in financial hold-ups [The Sun, 5 August].
If there was a deal to be done for Danny Ings or Michail Antonio that brought in some decent money and made space on the wage bill there would certainly be logic in taking it.
But since this update suggests both need to go that would leave Lopetegui should of numbers if one of Fullkrug or Duran were to get injured, so barring a big fee coming in for the likes of Nayef Aguerd it could be that the Villa man’s hopes of getting his move to the London Stadium are over.
In other West Ham news, Lopetegui has made a “final” request of the club during the transfer window.
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