West Ham are gearing up for another busy summer, this time with David Sullivan as de facto technical director, and have already made one official move.
The Hammers hierarchy say they’re a ‘happy ship’ since the double sacking of Tim Steidten and Julen Lopetegui.
Graham Potter’s right-hand man Kyle Macauley heads up the recruitment team identifying players for West Ham to sign.
It will be down to David Sullivan and agents he is close with to go out and get deals done.
At least two new strikers are wanted by West Ham in the summer window.
Younger, more dynamic players are being lined up by Potter and Macauley.
West Ham have the oldest squad in the Premier League and they want to drive that down, Hammers News has been told by a source at the club.
The Hammers have admitted money will be tight this summer.
There are big losses on the horizon for West Ham.
And although West Ham plan to raise over £100m in sales, value will be key in any deal.
As a result, the free agent market will be particularly attractive to the Irons.
Sullivan ally’s new agent intel on West Ham’s bid for top star
Arguably one of the best players in that category is Jonathan David.
Potter told the owners David can transform West Ham when he ended his 20-month break from football to accept the Hammers job.
Canada striker David is out of contract at Lille at the end of the season.
The 25-year-old, who has scored 174 goals for club and country in his career so far, actually rejected a last attempt from the French club this week to get him to agree a new deal.
David will be definitely be leaving for pastures new and West Ham have a longstanding interest.
The Hammers actually confirmed their interest in David in January.
Fans were furious when it emerged recently that David Moyes turned down signing David for just £20m in the summer of 2023.
The Athletic’s West Ham reporter Roshane Thomas says David is among the ‘many striker options the club have lined up’.
It was claimed at the weekend that Potter is determined and convinced West Ham can sign David.
That’s despite a plethora of clubs understandably being interested in one of the free agents of the summer.
Now a close ally of majority owner Sullivan has shared new agent intel on West Ham’s official bid for the top star.
Sean Whetstone is a close confidant of Sullivan.
He has revealed that West Ham have indeed played their hand with a concrete offer for David to his agent, who lives in London.
Whetstone has now revealed a significant update from an unnamed transfer source being fed information by David’s entourage.
David says no to ‘mind-boggling’ Saudi deal
It is claimed the striker has received a ‘mind-boggling’ offer to join the Saudi Pro League.
Initially there was encouragement for the Hammers as it is claimed David is unlikely to accept that move.
However, in the most damning verdict on the club’s hopes of luring David to east London yet, the source emphatically ruled out the possibility.
Because David has SEVEN contract offers in writing – five of them from Champions League clubs.
And the source says ‘West Ham have no chance’.
“Reports claiming West Ham had made the only concrete offer for the Lille striker have been met with a response that those claims were “utter rubbish”,” Whetstone said on X.
Crushing blow as Hammers have ‘no chance’ of signing David
“The transfer source added: “Jonathan David has at least seven contract offers in writing, and five of those are from Champions League clubs.
“I’m sorry to tell you this, but West Ham have no chance. His agent actually lives in London, and West Ham could have signed David last season for £20m, but nobody thought the player was good enough.”
This tallies with what Hammers News reported a month ago.
Football correspondent Graeme Bailey revealed to us West Ham face an uphill battle to sign David.
That, it seems, is the end of that.
West Ham got a glimpse of what might have been with David laying on a sublime assist for Lille in the Champions League overnight.
It always looked like pie-in-the-sky stuff. Especially with no European football on offer in east London.
Now the death knell on the interest in David has well and truly been tolled.
West Ham need to move on to other targets, if they haven’t already.
Because there can be no excuses not to get strikers in the door this summer.
Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox
