West Ham are looking to sign a striker and midfielder this month but now Graham Potter has added a defender to the list.
The January transfer window rumour mill is whirring, especially now West Ham have appointed a new manager.
Any new boss wants to bring in his own players and Graham Potter will be no different.
The Hammers had already made it clear they intend to be active in the winter window.
West Ham recently claimed they are close to their PSR limit and may have to sell to buy or seek fresh investment.
It has also been revealed West Ham’s owners sacrificed £5m of £69m worth of future transfer cash owed to them in a deal with Barclays Bank in order to get access to the money early to fund their summer splurge.
West Ham are therefore also looking to use the loan market.
A number of players have been linked with departures including Guido Rodriguez, Vladimir Coufal, Edson Alvarez, Niclas Fullkrug and Mohammed Kudus.
A striker and midfielder have been top of the agenda for the Hammers going into January.
But it hasn’t taken Potter long to identify the position he wants to strengthen first.
Potter asks Sullivan for Chelsea defender after just 24 hours
And it looks like bad news for one West Ham star as Potter asks David Sullivan for a Chelsea defender after just 24 hours.
Chelsea and West Ham are no strangers to do transfer deals down the years.
Chelsea chief Todd Boehly even offered Raheem Sterling to the Hammers in the summer.
The Irons were also linked with defender Trevoh Chalobah, forward David Datro Fofana and made a last ditch move for Carney Chukwuemeka.
In the end, none of those deals got done with Sterling and Chalobah moving to Arsenal and Palace on loan respectively.
Now Potter wants to raid his old club for another player who has actually been linked with West Ham recently – Ben Chilwell.
It was revealed back in October that Chilwell is desperate to leave Stamford Bridge in January after honest former Hammers assistant coach Enzo Maresca made it clear the left-back has no future at Chelsea.
Chilwell’s big wages make a permanent departure difficult and unlikely.
But it was revealed by journalist Graeme Bailey that West Ham are big admirers of Chilwell and that Chelsea are open to an 18-month loan deal which would suit the Hammers down to the ground.
Potter wants Chilwell and it’s bad news for two West Ham stars
Now Football Transfers claims in an exclusive that Potter has asked Sullivan to make Chilwell his first West Ham signing.
And just as Bailey reported three months ago, an 18-month deal is on the cards.
The new report states Potter is confident he can use his connections at Chelsea to land Chilwell for the Hammers.
The 28-year-old England left-back has been totally frozen out following the arrival of Maresca, not even making Chelsea’s Premier League squad.
This move is bad news for Emerson Palmieri, who West Ham rather ironically signed from Chelsea.
The 30-year-old has been very hit and miss for the last year.
Emerson has actually been linked with moves to Milan and Juventus in recent months.
Bringing in a new first choice left-back, which Chilwell would be, would surely spell the end of Emerson at West Ham.
Especially as the Hammers have excellent young left-back Ollie Scarles emerging too.
It could even be bad news for another West Ham star. The report claims the move for Chilwell will see the Hammers move on Coufal, who has been linked with Turkish clubs.
If West Ham can pull the Chilwell deal off, not only are they getting a high quality player but a homegrown one too.
Having Chilwell at left-back and Aaron Wan-Bissaka at right-back would give West Ham one of the best full-back pairings in the top flight.
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