West Ham's London rivals now want to sign Soungoutou Magassa in deadline-busting move
Soungoutou Magassa may finally be set to leave West Ham United.
The 22-year-old midfielder only joined West Ham from Monaco in a £17.3million deal last summer.
However, things just haven't gone to plan for the French youth international at the London Stadium.
Magassa started just 11 times in the Premier League last season, and hasn't yet featured in any of West Ham's competitive games in 2026-27.
Absent in pre-season too, the defensive midfielder doesn't appear destined to be a Hammers player for much longer.
However, he may not have to move far away from E20 to get his next opportunity.
Which London club is keen on signing Soungoutou Magassa?
Magassa recently removed all mentions of West Ham from his Instagram page, strongly suggesting he's rather fed up at the London Stadium.
He doesn't seem to feature in Nuno Espirito Santo's plans moving forward, and thus his time with the Hammers is set to be short, and not exactly sweet.
The Daily Mail reports on Tuesday that Crystal Palace have Magassa on their midfield transfer shortlist.
With now just a week to go until the 1 September deadline, it remains to be seen whether the Eagles firm up this reported interest.
Should they do so, it would seem as though this could be a transfer that happens very quickly, both for transfer desire and geographical reasons.
But do Magassa's underlying numbers from 2025-26 suggest that West Ham could be making a mistake letting him go?
Why West Ham won't lose any sleep if Magassa is sold
First and foremost, Nuno can't afford to have players inside his dressing room who don't want to be there.
If the Irons are to arrest their early-season form and eventually win promotion this season, everyone must be pulling in the same direction.
Magassa doesn't appear to meet that requirement, and so the Hammers should look to move him on before the deadline if they can find a buyer.
On top of that, his underlying numbers from his debut Premier League campaign last term won't have West Ham worrying he'll be one that got away either.
As per FotMob, Magassa ranked in the bottom 7.4 percentile of all Premier League defensive midfielders in 2025-26 for his 3.3km covered per 90 minutes.
Meanwhile, his 80.7 per cent pass success rate put him in the lowest 13.6 percentile, whilst his 54.6 touches per 90 put scored him in the bottom 18.5 percentile.
Of course, he is still only a young player and has the pedigree to suggest there's improvement to be made.
But with West Ham needing everyone in the same trench and after an underwhelming debut campaign, Magassa shouldn't be held back from leaving if the price is right.