Now that West Ham United have banked some of the proceeds from the sale of Declan Rice, it’s all systems go on the transfer front in east London.
In truth, David Sullivan and David Moyes should’ve had the Hammers summer transfer plans in place long before the agreement was concluded with Arsenal for their former captain.
However, for reasons as yet unexplained, West Ham have left any purchases until the last minute and that doesn’t put them in the greatest negotiating position.
There are three and a half weeks to go until a ball is kicked in earnest, and Moyes hasn’t made a single signing.
The desperation that he will surely be feeling will only be made worse with selling clubs appreciating that position and adding on a few extra million pounds to ensure they extract maximum benefit from any sales.
That certainly appears to be the case with London rivals Chelsea putting a mark up on attacking midfielder, Conor Gallagher.
The Hammers are known to be looking at the player and as Sky Sports report, the Blues are asking for £40m+ for the England international.
Whilst there’s no doubting the 23-year-old’s qualities, such a fee isn’t commensurate with a player that only started 18 games for the Blues last season, per WhoScored.
One can certainly infer that Todd Boehly is still trying to balance the books as the fire sale at Stamford Bridge continues.
Unless Chelsea are willing to bring down their asking price however, the east Londoners may be well advised to shop elsewhere.
Absolute tosh 40 million for a current England international who started over half of Chelsea games is more than fair