Biggest hint yet that Mads Hermansen is next as West Ham stay suspiciously tight-lipped

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West Ham are giving little away, but the biggest hint yet suggests Mads Hermansen could be next through the door for Graham Potter’s rebuild.

The Hammers board have issued a tantalising response to Hammers News when asked directly about Leicester City star Mads Hermansen.

It comes as speculation intensifies that West Ham could be in the process of bringing the highly-rated goalkeeper to the London Stadium.

The controversial sale of Mohammed Kudus is already stinging West Ham.

But the £54.5m brought in for the Ghanaian has at least enabled Graham Potter to get stuck into some much-needed recruitment of his own.

Potter has made two things perfectly clear about his Hammers rebuild.

Firstly that he wants to drastically lower the age of the squad by signing younger, dynamic and athletic players.

Potter’s West Ham rebuild now gaining momentum

Secondly he wants to get back to the thorough due diligence carried out by David Moyes on the kind of characters West Ham are bringing into the dressing room.

El Hadji Malick Diouf was a perfect example of that as Potter’s first permanent signing.

Mature and much-loved 20-year-old Senegal starter Diouf had only been at Slavia Prague for 18 months.

But he made such an impact on the pitch and in the dressing room that there wasn’t a dry eye in the house when he said his goodbyes upon joining the Hammers in a move worth up to £23m this week.

West Ham have followed up the Diouf signing with the frugal and savvy capture of another full-back, Kyle Walker-Peters.

The former Saints star, 28, has been officially unveiled as Potter’s second signing.

Walker-Peters’ ability to play equally well at left full-back and wingback as he does his natural right side gives West Ham cover, particularly when they lose Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Diouf to AFCON for four-six weeks in January.

On signing the ex Spurs defender, Potter has once again underlined that Walker-Peters’ excellent character was just as important as his playing ability.

With Walker-Peters confirmed, there have been strong rumours a top young Leicester goalkeeper wanted by both Chelsea and Man United could be on his way to east London.

Now there has been the biggest hint yet that Hermansen is next as West Ham stay suspiciously tight-lipped.

West Ham are in the market for a new goalkeeper this summer.

Biggest hint yet Hermansen is next for Hammers

Potter elected to release veteran Lukasz Fabianski despite many believing he could provide back-up for at least one more season.

In fact some Hammers fans believed Fabianski was more deserving of the number one spot than Alphonse Areola.

The Frenchman has failed to convince under Potter so far but has been left as the only proven, Premier League quality goalkeeper in the squad.

Areola’s own future has been in question too with Espanyol linked and West Ham reportedly keen to offload the high-earning former PSG man, who is on £120k per week.

Djorde Petrovic and Caoimhín Kelleher were both linked with the Hammers before joining Bournemouth and Brentford respectively.

Robert Sanchez is being backed by Chelsea after being included in talks over Kudus last month.

Noah Atubolu and Aaron Ramsdale have also been linked with moves to the London Stadium.

But 25-year-old Hermansen is the name which has emerged as Potter’s number one goalkeeper target.

Hammers News revealed new lead goalkeeper coach Casper Ankergren advised West Ham to try and sign Hermansen.

Ankergren oversaw Hermansen’s development when they were at Brondby together.

Former Denmark international Peter Kjaer leaked West Ham’s interest recently.

Kjaer tipped Leicester goalkeeper Hermansen for a move to West Ham after the Foxes were relegated to the Championship.

Hermansen has been confirmed as a target by top club sources.

Hammers News previously revealed the club would ideally prefer a loan with obligation to buy in order to kick the can down the road in terms of paying Hermansen’s reported £20m fee.

That’s to save transfer cash for other positions that Potter needs to address this summer.

West Ham dropped a major hint that Hermansen could be their goalkeeper signing after naming him in Ankergren’s announcement.

This weekend Fabrizio Romano revealed Leicester are in talks to sign Hermansen’s replacement.

Now there’s been another massive clue for the Hammers, who have fanned the flames with a teasing response to a direct question about the Foxes star.

West Ham stay suspiciously tight-lipped over absent Hermansen

Leicester took on Zalaegerszegi in a pre-season match on Saturday and Hermansen was conspicuous by his absence from the squad altogether.

The Foxes’ 25-year-old Polish star Jakub Stolarczyk is seen as Hermansen’s natural successor for the number one spot as they close in on the experienced Asmir Begovic.

Stolarczyk started the game but Hermansen was nowhere to be seen – and has not been given extra time off for involvement in international football.

Armed with that information, Hammers News put it to West Ham’s owners whether Hermansen was a target and could be the club’s next signing.

Usually in such circumstances, the top spokesman for West Ham’s owners would rule out a player if there was no truth in the rumours.

But this time the response was intriguing to say the least.

“Who knows what comes next,” the top spokesman for West Ham’s owners said when asked if the club was signing Hermansen after he was left out of the Leicester squad.