The summer transfer window still has the potential to be a fantastic one for West Ham United, but Aston Villa could cause us a massive issue it seems.
Julen Lopetegui is clearly a very ambitious man, and he has grand plans to take West Ham to the very top table of world football.
In order to get us back inside the top seven though, the Spaniard needs to be given time to bed in his ideas and footballing philosophies.
Some top-class signings will obviously help as well, and Lopetegui has made a solid, if not spectacular, start to the summer transfer window.
The 57-year-old is said to be targeting a bare minimum of six new signings this summer, so we can expect at least three more arrivals.
In my opinion, he will need to bring in another five new additions, if he is to oversee some genuine progress at the club.
The West Ham head coach needs to sign a striker, central midfielder, left winger, a full-back (or two?) and another centre-back.
And it is the last position mentioned there where Aston Villa could cause us all sorts of problems this summer…
West Ham dealt Jean-Clair Todibo summer transfer window blow
According to a report from L’Equipe, Aston Villa are eyeing up a move to hijack the Hammers’ deal to sign the Frenchman.
West Ham are said to have a strong interest in signing the 24-year-old centre-back, as have Italian giants Juventus.
Todibo allegedly wants to join Juve, but the Hammers are the only club to have agreed a fee with Nice for him.
Nice are apparently trying to force the former Barcelona man into joining West Ham, because they would earn more money from that particular deal.
So that is obviously positive news for us. However, the bad news is that Villa certainly have the funds to tempt Nice into selling and crucially, they could offer the centre-back Champions League football as well.
Missing out on the towering defender to Villa would be a truly crushing blow for the Hammers.
Nice coach Francesco Farioli raved about Todibo, and described him as an ‘incredible’ player (Goal).
The Nice star is an elite central defender, and he has really impressed for the Ligue 1 outfit since joining them from Barcelona three years ago.
The 24-year-old is incredibly strong in the air, possesses impressive pace for such a big man and he reads the game superbly well.
Todibo is definitely ready to make the jump up from Ligue 1 to the Premier League, and he should be perfectly suited to England’s top tier.
The news that Aston Villa are now battling West Ham for the France international’s signature in the summer transfer window is hugely concerning to me.
The Hammers may well be able to beat Juventus to his signature, but usurping Villa in the race will be another matter entirely.
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