Dramatic twist as doomed West Ham transfer for Atilla Szalai is back on and a fee agreed claims a respected journalist.
West Ham’s pursuit of towering Fenerbahce and Hungary centre-back Attila Szalai has been well publicised.
David Moyes has been tracking the player for some time and speculation has been building that he could soon be signed to ease West Ham’s defensive crisis.
But like so many others, West Ham’s proposed deal to sign Szalai apparently collapsed late on in the proceedings.
That was according to a report from Turkish media outlet Fotomac who claimed the Hammers refused to match Fenerbahce’s asking price for the 24-year-old left-sided centre-back.
There appears to be some more positive news for the Hammers and Moyes overnight, though.
In a dramatic twist the supposedly doomed West Ham transfer for Szalai is back on and a fee agreed claims a journalist.
That’s according to Turkish journalist Ahmet ErcanIar speaking live during a football show on the hugely popular TGRT Haber channel.
“Szalai could soon go to West Ham United for 17 million euros (£14.5m),” Ercanlar states on TGRT Haber when asked about the defender’s current situation.
This one seems – like so many other transfers involving West Ham – to be becoming something of a soap opera too.
But ErcanIar and TGRT Haber are respected sources in Turkey and have nearly one million followers between them on Twitter.
Let’s hope the journalist is right because Szalai has impressed for Hungary in games against England in the past and in last summer’s Euros.
It will be interesting to see how this one develops for West Ham.
Turkish clubs are notoriously difficult to do business with tending to want to take players to their league on the cheap but demand big numbers when clubs from other European leagues come knocking.
West Ham are also pursuing German centre-back Thilo Kehrer.
And it remains to be seen whether the Hammers are pushing for both players with the intention of signing just one of them or doing a double deal.
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