West Ham United know how it feels to become the victim of your own relative success.
After developing Declan Rice into one of the finest midfielders in the Premier League, not to mention an England regular, that Conference League final victory over Fiorentina would prove to be the captain’s final appearance in the clubs’ colours.
And while it will never stop being a source of real amusement that the 2023 triumph in Prague remains his one and only piece of silverware – Arsenal endured yet another trophyless season under Mikel Arteta last time out – even the most hard-nosed Hammer would have to admit that Rice deserved the chance to prove himself on the Champions League stage.
Down on the South Coast, AFC Bournemouth appear to be approaching a similar realisation with the likes of Milos Kerkez, Dean Huijsen and Antoine Semenyo.
Kerkez appears set for Liverpool. Huijsen is bound for Real Madrid.
West Ham will surely rue not signing Semenyo from Bristol City, meanwhile, as the all-action winger also attracts admiring glances from the division’s most deep-pocketed outfits.
Hammers News, meanwhile, understands that West Ham are interested in signing Marcus Tavernier from The Cherries. While hogging fewer headlines than Kerkez or Semenyo, Tavernier is another key reason why Andoni Iraola’s side spent much of the 2024/25 campaign flirting with the European places.
Bournemouth fans react as West Ham United target Marcus Tavernier
Despite a reported £25 million price-tag, and despite a contract which runs until the summer of 2028, Tavernier is another who could enter the window feeling that he may have achieved all he realistically can as an AFC Bournemouth player.
But how do The Cherries faithful feel about potentially seeing Tavernier follow Kerkez and Huijsen out the door? Well, much depends on how much West Ham would be prepared to pay.
Or, indeed, how much Bournemouth would be willing to accept.
“Bournemouth cannot afford to sell Marcus Tavernier,” one fan writes on X. “Andoni Iraola’s system is about energy and Tavernier, alongside Ryan Christie, provides the team’s heartbeat with a tireless work ethic. Upwards of £15 million would be hard to reject, but Tav is a great asset.
“If we were looking to sell, I think we’d be looking at more like £30 million,” a supporter argues, while another points out that Bournemouth spent a hefty fee on Tavernier themselves back in 2022 when the then-Middlesbrough man was still unproven as a top-flight footballer.
“Didn’t we spend £12 million on him? £20 million-plus, I think we’d be tempted.
“I think £15 million would be a steal.”
“£40 million!”
One fan, meanwhile, greets West Ham’s interest with a rather blunt two-word message. And it wasn’t ‘go away, West Ham’, just in case you were wondering.
“Politely, [redacted], West Ham!”
Tavernier is high on Premier League charts for progressive actions
With Lucas Paqueta potentially heading back to Brazil and as Mohammed Kudus attracts interest from Liverpool, a West Ham midfield already short of intensity, running power and creativity will be even slower, blander and more predictable if reinforcements are not forthcoming.
Tellingly, Marcus Tavernier ranks highly amongst the Premier League’s best for ‘progressive’ actions. His typically tireless performance during Bournemouth’s 2-2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur in March summed him up best.
A game in which Tavernier completed three key passes, four tackles, and opened the scoring with a sliding back-post finish.
“For me, Tav that has played there next to Tyler [Adams in midfield], has played one of his best games, probably,” Iraola said at full-time, indicating that Tavernier could have a future in a more deep-lying role.
“I think probably it’s something that we should have tried before because he has been really good today. I think he’s someone who can cover that position.
“I think defensively he has the work rate, offensively obviously he takes good decisions and I think it’s something that we should explore.”
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