Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse is a wanted man, and West Ham could have the edge in the transfer race if they offer one of their young stars in part-exchange.
David Moyes and David Sullivan need to attack the transfer market with vigour now, given that there’s only three weeks until the start of the season and the Hammers still haven’t managed to sign a single player.
For a team that’s just won the Europa Conference League and, as a result, have been granted automatic entry into the Europa League this season, that’s unforgivable.
Using the excuse of having to wait until the money from the Declan Rice deal was confirmed before entering the market clearly wasn’t the wisest choice.
Luckily for the east Londoners, Ward-Prowse is one of their targets that still remains for sale and, as The Guardian (subscription required) report, the set-piece specialist is keen on the move to the London Stadium.
The Hammers could certainly do with a player of his expertise, though a more pressing need is to replace Rice, and any deal really does need to be completed as soon as practicable to enable the player to get used to his new team-mates and way of working ahead of the Premier League kick-off.
The Guardian also suggest that, in order to sweeten any potential deal, West Ham will offer highly-rated youngster, Flynn Downes, in part-exchange.
The 24-year-old hasn’t really hit the heights at the Hammers (no goals or assists in 23 appearances per WhoScored) but is likely to find his level in the Championship and could be an astute pick up for the Saints.