West Ham United’s alleged interest in taking St Etienne striker Lucas Stassin across the Channel to the Premier League was initially met with relative silence over in France.
But as clubs on both sides of the sea step up their pre-season preparations, as St Etienne’s players return to training after a few weeks off, mulling over the frustration of their relegation to Ligue 2, clarity over the future of one of Europe’s hottest young centre-forwards is finally forthcoming.
St Etienne coach Eirik Horneland believes Stassin will stay. Wishful thinking, probably.
With reports claiming that the Belgian Under-21 international is available for £18 million this summer – that relegation scrubbing £7 million off his market value – St Etienne are hardly negotiating from a position of strength; the ten-time Ligue 1 champions preparing for a campaign up against Annecy, Stade Laval, Pau and Rodez.
Reporter Mohamed Toubache-Ter, in a clear boost to West Ham United’s chances, claims that Lucas Stassin wants to leave the Stade Geoffrey Guichard in order to force his way into Belgium’s 2026 World Cup squad.
And while speculation last week suggested that discussions with an ambitious Strasbourg outfit were heating up, a man close to Racing president Marc Keller insists that these rumours were very much agent-driven.
West Ham still in Lucas Stassin battle as Strasbourg links played down
French football expert Pierre Menes, speaking to Alsa Sports, is keen to remind supporters not to believe everything they read. Especially during a time of the year when rumours dominate and misinformation spreads like wildfire.
Take the CJ Egan-Riley situation, for instance.
Former Burnley defender Egan-Riley rejected West Ham for Marseille last week, joining last season’s Ligue 1 runners-up on a free transfer.
He, like Stassin, was heavily linked with Strasbourg too. Falsely, as it turns out.
“I read almost nothing but false information about Racing. The biggest one is [the reports around] Egan-Riley,” Menes explains. “I asked Marc [Keller, the Strasbourg president] three, four times, and he told me each time that he had never heard of him.
“So either [owners] BlueCo are doing their recruitment in their corner and don’t even inform the president of the club, which seems a little surprising to me, or it’s false.
“I covered transfers at the newspaper L’Equipe for many years. You call agents, who never give you information on their players but who give you information on other people’s players.
“Stassin, for example, it’s his agent who wants to place him at Strasbourg. Stassin has never been contacted by Racing, like [Nantes striker Matthis] Abline!”
Strasbourg may not be Stassin’s eventual destination then. But, a la Egan-Riley, that does not mean West Ham have a clear run at a man with more admirers than a prom queen on Valentine’s Day.
Wolves in Stassin race as West Ham eye Strasbourg hitman Emanuel Emegha
According to reports, Rennes, Lille, Sporting Lisbon, RB Leipzig and the aforementioned Marseille are all interested. There are further Premier League-based suitors, too, in the shape of Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The extent of the interest comes as no surprise, really. Stassin, a ‘mix’ between a number nine and a number ten according to Horneland, provided 16 goals and assists in just 23 starts for a poor St Etienne outfit.
Stassin joined Lamine Yamal and Desire Doue in the Rising Stars Under-21 Team of the Season as well, rated as the finest striker of his age group anywhere in European football.
Ironically, if Stassin was to join Strasbourg, he would likely be replacing another London Stadium target.
Hammers News understands that West Ham remain interested in Emmanuel Emegha, even while president Keller fights to keep another of Ligue 1’s rising stars.
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