It has all gone a little quiet around West Ham United’s apparent pursuit of Europe’s ‘Assist King’, with Pablo Felipe and Taty Castellanos arriving and attention turning towards centre-backs and goalkeepers.
But with a £3 million bargain up for grabs, this is a deal West Ham United can perhaps afford to place on the backburner in the knowledge that they will still have enough funds left later in the window to revisit things.
West Ham confirmed the signing of Pablo Felipe from Gil Vicente on Friday. A further £27 million has been spent on Taty Castellanos.
The ex-Lazio striker is determined to emulate Carlos Tevez as he follows in the iconic Argentine’s claret and blue footsteps.
What are your EXPECTATIONS for Taty Castellanos? 🇦🇷
What does he need to do to justify that £27m price-tag?
Charlie Cresswell appears to be the chosen Max Kilman replacement at centre-half. Anyone would be better, truthfully. A £10 million bid was lodged for Matheus Bento, the Al-Nassr and Brazil goalkeeper, this week too, according to the Daily Mail.
Souffian El Karouani, then, has been slightly forgotten about in this flurry of early-window activity.
But, as he and Dutch football reporter Mike Verweij both explain, a move away from the Eredivisie is still on the cards for the FC Utrecht set-piece star.
Souffian El Karouani ready to leave Utrecht as West Ham United show an interest
Souffian El Karouani has been called the ‘Assist King’ for a pretty fitting reason.
With 15 in all competitions already this season, no one in Europe has set up more goals than the Dutch-born Morocco international. El Karouani would bring his ‘amazing left foot’ to English football if West Ham can hold off competition from Marseille, Eintracht Frankfurt, Ajax and co.
They certainly seem well placed to do just that.
RTV claimed in December that the former NEC Nijmegen wideman was ‘on his way’ to the London Stadium. While those reports may have been a little premature, El Karouani has described West Ham as a ‘great club’ while indicating that a move to the Premier League would boost his chances of earning a spot in Morocco’s World Cup squad.
Things go as they go. It can change at any moment. It could happen very quickly, it could take a few days. We’ll see,” El Karouani maintains matter-of-factly. The Moroccan international isn’t spending all day checking his phone for a message from his agent.
“I’ll see what happens. I know what’s going on, but ultimately, I have to want it myself,” El Karouani tells De Telegraaf in a new interview this week. “From there, we’ll see if we can work it out with the club.
“I’m not stressed about it at all. I’ll just hear how it goes.
“First, a club has to come to Jordy (Zuidam, Utrecht’s sporting director) and reach an agreement. Then they’re happy, and then I have to reach a contractual agreement. If I’m happy then, I can leave quickly.”
“We’re playing again on Friday. If I’m still there on Friday, I want to focus on that. The away game against NEC is an important match for us.”
Mike Vermeij suggests West Ham more likely than Ajax
El Karouani is out of contract in the summer.
Utrecht owner Frans van Seumeren has confirmed the plan is to sell now rather than wait to lose him for nothing. The Mirror believe a deal could be done for as little as £3 million.
Now, some have suggested that Ajax could look to raid Eredivisie rivals Utrecht after failing to agree a deal for Quillindschy Hartman of Burnley. The aforementioned Vermeij, though, feels that El Karouani is also likely to slip through Ajax’s grasp.
The ASSIST KING may be coming to West Ham! 👑
How do you feel about those Souffian El Karouani links?
“The list [of left-back targets] is broader than just Hartman,” says Verweij speaking on De Telegraaf’s podcast. “I believe El Karouani was also on the list for the left-back position.
“El Karouani also has options abroad. Those options are currently somewhat more concrete, so the chance of him coming to Ajax doesn’t seem very likely to me.”
Of course, El Karouani’s arrival would take West Ham’s number of first-team left-backs to three. El Hadji Malick Diouf will be back soon from the African Cup of Nations, while Ollie Scarles has stepped into the starting XI since late-December.
Diouf is going nowhere this month, of course. If El Karouani joins, would that see Scarles shunted out on loan? Perhaps following in the footsteps of George Earthy and Freddie Potts with a spell in the Championship?
Given how those two performed, winning the Young Player of the Year awards at Bristol City and Portsmouth, a stint in the EFL could do the talented but inconsistent Scarles a lot of good.
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