Graham Potter appeared to resist any temptation to reunite with a couple of his old Brighton and Chelsea charges when the Mohammed Kudus saga was at its peak at West Ham United.
Hammers News can confirm that, before Tottenham convinced David Sullivan to accept a £54.5 million bid for the Ghana international, Potter’s former employers from the West of the capital put forward their own proposal earlier in the window.
And Potter is understood to have been left unconvinced by Chelsea’s attempts to include a number of players as a makeweight in a deal which would have taken Kudus to Stamford Bridge.
Among those offered to West Ham United were Robert Sanchez, the goalkeeper Potter installed as his number one at Brighton, Trevoh Chalobah and Carney Chukwuemeka; two players the Hammers boss took a liking to when in the Chelsea dugout.
Over in Italy though, new Inter Milan coach Cristian Chivu appeared to be take a very different stance when reports emerged claiming the Nerazzuri were planning a reunion with Parma sensation Giovanni Leoni.
Chivu, who replaces Simone Inzaghi at San Siro, was the man who handed Giovanni Leoni his big break in Italian football last season. Despite only turning 18 in December, the teenage centre-back made 17 Serie A appearances under the Romanian.
Now, according to Fabrizio Romano, Inter are looking to reunite Leoni with Chivu before the window closes.
Beppe Marotta plays down Inter Milan claims with West Ham United-linked Giovanni Leoni
Beppe Marotta, the Nerazzurri CEO, insists that things are not quite as advanced as some in the media have suggested though. While Inter prioritise a deal for Atalanta talisman Ademola Lookman, Leoni remains on the backburner.
An opportunity presents itself, then, for any rival suitors to make their move. Rival suitors which reportedly include West Ham, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United, per Corriere dello Sport.
“I think it’s fair that Chivu recognised the value of Leoni, but he’s a Parma player and we haven’t started any negotiations,” Marotta tells Tuttomercatoweb. “He would be useful to many clubs, but the priority right now is other positions and other players.
“Then, we’ll see what happens.
“On the one hand, we recognise Leoni’s value. On the other, Inter’s youth academy [is] one of the best around. We hope to find Inter’s [very own] Leoni here.
“I’m not saying he’s not good, but perhaps the pressure the media has put on him in recent months is a bit exaggerated.”
Why spend a reported £30 million on a teenager with fewer than 20 Serie A appearances, Marotta suggests, when Inter Milan already have some of the brightest young talents in Italian football waiting in the wings?
West Ham reportedly agree terms with Swiss defender Albian Hajdari
As for West Ham, a price-tag reportedly beginning at £30 million means that any interest they may hold in Giovanni Leoni is likely to go unrequited unless some major sales happen in the coming weeks.
The Daily Mail reports that acceptable offers are yet to arrive for the likes of Guido Rodriguez, Edson Alvarez and Nayef Aguerd. Moroccan misfit Aguerd was recently handed the number five shirt vacated by Vladimir Coufal, meanwhile. A hint, perhaps, that he will be reintegrated into Potter’s plans after a loan spell at Real Sociedad.
Albian Hajdari, with a release clause of £4.3 million in his FC Lugano contract, feels a far more affordable, attainable central defensive target at present. The Switzerland starlet has agreed terms with West Ham, reports suggest.
Hajdari was omitted from Lugano’s Swiss Super League opener on Sunday too, with head coach Mattia Croci-Torti having suggested recently that a departure is ‘imminent’.
Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox
