As West Ham United’s players prepare to make their return to the Premier League outfit for the start of pre-season, more and more clarity is emerging regarding the club’s pursuit of various transfer targets.
The West Ham squad will be back at Rush Green less than two weeks from now.
In the meantime, across the continent, managers, directors and owners are also bringing an end to their brief summer breaks and returning to work. This means that, after a month of relative silence, public statements are starting to emerge regarding some of West Ham United’s leading summer targets.
Take Matthias Kvistgaarden, for instance.
While Hammers News understands that West Ham pursue Emanuel Emegha and Baris Alper Yilmaz of Strasbourg and Galatasaray respectively, the so-called ‘new Henrik Larssen’ Kvistgaarden is included too on a lengthy striker-themed wishlist.
And, for the first time since those reports emerged via the Daily Mail at the end of May, Danish giants Brondby have spoken out about the future of their £12 million-rated hitman.
Brondby ready to hold talks with West Ham United target Mathias Kvistgaarden
Speaking to Via Play and TV 2 Sport, Brondby director Benjamin Schmedes accepts that club-record offers will simply have to be considered. Kvistgaarden, at a reported £12 million, looks destined to replace Freiburg attacker Yuito Suzuki as their most expensive-ever export.
That is just the nature of the beast in Scandinavia. A relative small fry in the footballing food chain.
“I think we need to get the engine started a little bit in the transfer market. We need to finance ourselves based on [player] sales,” Schmedes explains. “Nobody likes to lose their best players or lose players who score a lot of goals. And, if you ask me personally, I would also rather keep everyone.
“But we know [Kvistgaarden] is a big profile, and it also creates more attention when he makes his debut for the national team.”
Kvistgaarden featured for the senior Danish side for the first time this month, coming off the bench during a 2-1 victory over Northern Ireland. Under contract until the summer of 2027, a striker with as many goals last season as candles on his birthday cake – 23 apiece – will almost certainly be sold if Brondby’s demands are met.
Benjamin Schmedes asks West Ham to make their interest known
Scottish Premiership champions Celtic are long-time admirers of Kvistgaarden, but the fees involved mean the deeper pockets of West Ham could be a decisive factor.
“If anyone is interested, they should contact us,” Schmedes adds. “If something comes up that we find interesting, we’ll sit down and talk about it.
“It’s a very open dialogue with Mathias and his backroom team. I can only say that everything is fine so far, but I’m lucky and happy that it’s not the newspapers that decide when the time is right for a sale. We’re all on the same page so far.
“It doesn’t surprise me that there is interest in him from the right and left, but I can’t say that he is close to being sold or far from it right now. It is a process that is ongoing.
“The most important thing is that we are very transparent in our dialogue with each other.”
Interestingly, West Ham are reportedly keen on Casper Ankergren, Brondby’s goalkeeping coach, as well while Leicester City goalkeeper Mads Hermansen could end up in London two years after swapping the Danish Superliga outfit for the King Power Stadium.
Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox
