Bad news for Newcastle United is great news for West Ham in striker hunt after PSG make a big decision to switch targets.
It says everything about Newcastle’s approach to this transfer window that absolutely nobody was surprised when they were linked with David Moyes’ prime striker target Armando Broja at the weekend.
Because it was not the first and certainly won’t be the last West Ham target Newcastle have been linked with this summer.
A recent report described Newcastle’s interest in West Ham transfer targets as “an obsession”.
Newcastle reportedly tried to – ultimately unsuccessfully – hijack West Ham’s moves for Nayef Aguerd and Alphonse Areola.
Both clubs wanted to sign Diego Carlos in January with the Brazilian having since signed for Aston Villa.
The Hammers and Newcastle have also reportedly been locked in transfer battles over Jesse Lingard, Sven Botman and Hugo Ekitike since the January window.
Botman has joined Newcastle who have been working on a protracted move to sign Stade Reims striker Ekitike.
French outlets Le10Sport and Get French Football News – as well as Sky Sports – revealed that West Ham had submitted bids to Reims for the rapid 20-year-old who has been compared to Thierry Henry.
West Ham have seemingly dropped out of that particular race to focus on Broja and other targets including Gianluca Scamacca at Sassuolo.
Newcastle appeared to be frontrunners to get the fleet-footed French forward during the summer window.
But there has been bad news for Newcastle which is great for West Ham in the striker hunt after PSG make a big decision to switch targets.
RMC Sport and Get French Football News are reporting that Paris Saint-Germain remain in contact with the entourage of Ekitike as talks for Italian striker Scamacca stall in the face of Sassiolo’s high asking price for the Azzurri man.
West Ham are said to have spoken to Sassuolo about signing Scamacca according to a report from 90min last week.
And Football Italia claim West Ham are ‘not concerned’ by Scamacca’s high price tag, stating that Moyes still wants the Italian.
“(Sporting director Luis) Campos also sees Ekitike as a potential Kylian Mbappé backup,” RMC Sport and Get French Football News report.
“The 20-year-old, who scored 10 goals last season, was notably the subject of interest from Newcastle in January and again this summer.”
PSG turning their attentions to Ekitike can only be bad news for Newcastle. The Magpies may be able to compete financially with PSG but not from a sporting standpoint – at least not at the moment anyway.
All the talk in West Ham circles has been about Broja.
But Scamacca is a top quality forward and if PSG have ditched their interest it gives Moyes a big chance.
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