West Ham ‘table a £33m bid for St Etienne defender Wesley Fofana’ as David Moyes desperately tries to land a new defender before the transfer window closes’
- West Ham have made a £33million bid for St Etienne defender Wesley Fofana
- David Moyes is desperate to strengthen his squad before the window shuts
- The Hammers have lost their opening two Premier League games this season
- Co-owner David Sullivan earlier warned they may not be able to bring players in
West Ham have made a £33million bid for St Etienne defender Wesley Fofana, according to reports.
The 19-year-old centre back turned down a new contract with the French side earlier this month and has reportedly told manager Claude Puel that he wants to move to the Premier League.
According to Sky Sports, the Hammers have submitted an offer of £22.9m with £10.1m in add-ons.
West Ham have reportedly made a £33million bid for St Etienne defender Wesley Fofana
David Moyes is desperate to add a defender to his squad before the transfer window shuts
Fofana made 14 appearances in Ligue 1 last season before the campaign was cancelled. Leicester are also thought to have an interest in the youngster but West Ham’s offer is believed to be the highest so far.
Earlier on Wednesday, the club’s co-owner David Sullivan warned that they might not be able to bring new players in before the deadline.
West Ham lost their opening two Premier League fixtures and Sullivan told talkSPORT the transfer market had left him feeling ‘depressed’, claiming he is unable to bring in the players David Moyes is looking for.
‘It’s the manager’s decision. He doesn’t want to bring in players who are just numbers, just squad players. He wants to bring players in who will improve the team.
The centre back has told manager Claude Puel that he wants to move to the Premier League
David Sullivan (centre) has admitted he can’t guarantee West Ham will make any signings
‘We have a number of bids in for a number of players, but teams don’t want to lose them; these are key players at decent sized clubs, outside the UK. They don’t want to lose them so whether we get any of these players I do not know.’
Moyes is desperate to sign a defender before the window shuts on October 5 but has failed in his attempts to sign Burnley’s James Tarkowski with several bids rejected by the Lancashire club.
Sullivan continued: ‘We’ve chased dreams the last two years and bought a pile of players who haven’t impacted the club, and maybe they will over the coming seasons because there are some damned good players; the reserve team we are putting out in the Carabao Cup is a very, very good team, particularly in attack… but we are short of defenders.
‘I can’t just go and sign two or three players the manager doesn’t want. I could quite easily tomorrow go and sign two or three players but we’d have a civil war at West Ham, because I don’t pick the players. We have a manager who is a manager, not a coach; if he was a coach I could do that, but that’s not the way it works at West Ham – the managers pick the teams.
The Hammers failed to sign James Tarkowski from Burnley after having several bids rejected
‘I cannot say for sure that we are going to sign anybody. As each day passes I am getting more depressed.’
West Ham have only been able to sign Tomas Soucek, who originally joined on loan in January, on a permanent deal and youngster Ossama Ashley was picked up on a free transfer after leaving AFC Wimbledon.
Newcastle beat them to the signing of free agent Ryan Fraser while Crystal Palace landed Eberechi Eze, who was also a target.
They have also shown an interest in Juventus’ Daniele Rugani, with the Serie A giants willing to listen to offers, but they face competition from Newcastle.