A mega money Newcastle move closes one door but opens another for a West Ham deal as transfer targets are switched.
Newcastle United appear ready to start spending big money in the transfer market and it is having a big impact on West Ham.
West Ham fans who have followed the transfer windows since Eddie Howe’s arrival at Newcastle will know that wherever the Hammers go, the Magpies seem to follow.
At one stage last summer Newcastle’s interest in West Ham’s transfer dealings and targets was described as an ‘obsession’.
But now, after qualifying for the Champions League, it is Newcastle leading the way in the market while West Ham follow it seems.
Mega money Newcastle move closes one door but opens another for West Ham deal as targets are switched
We reported that Newcastle’s move for AC Milan midfielder Sandro Tonali was terrible news for West Ham because the Serie A giants were planning to replace him with Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.
The Lazio and Serbia midfield star has long been touted as the man West Ham want to sign to replace Declan Rice.
Indeed the player’s agent had even been instructed to start brokering a deal for around £35m with the likes of West Ham ahead of the summer window because his contract runs out next year.
The Hammers have also been heavily linked with the likes of Sofyan Amrabat, Yunus Musah and Joao Palhinha as potential Rice replacements.
All aboard the midfield merry-go-round
Well now the mega money Newcastle move has closed one door and opened another for a West Ham deal as transfer targets are switched.
As the Magpies edge closer to completing their deal for outstanding defensive midfielder Tonali, AC Milan have now switched their attentions from Milinkovic-Savic to Amrabat according to TMW.
And while that is bad news for West Ham’s hopes of signing Nayef Aguerd’s Morocco teammate, it reopens the door on a potential move for Milinkovic-Savic.
That is great news for David Moyes.
Because while West Ham have been linked with a host of other midfield targets, none possess similar all round attributes to Rice like Milinkovic-Savic.
Howe could now be doing Moyes a big favour as Milinkovic-Savic is the ideal Rice heir
Players like Palhinha, Amrabat and now Dortmund bound Edson Alvarez are excellent defensive midfielders. But they are not as proficient going forward and in driving their team up the pitch as Rice and the Milinkovic-Savic have proved to be.
One only needs to look at the Serb all-rounder’s statistics to see how ideal he would be to replace Rice. He scored 13 goals and laid on eight assists last season and got 11 of each the season before.
He was man of the match no fewer than nine times for club and country last season too. And he had a superb average match rating in 34 Serie games of 7.24 – higher than Rice.
His defensive and aerial statistics are also excellent.
Newcastle are embarking on an exciting window and looked to have inadvertently put a spanner in the works of West Ham’s plans.
But this latest twist could yet do the Hammers a huge favour.
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