New twist in battle between West Ham and Newcastle for French striker they fought over in January

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New twist in battle between West Ham and Newcastle for French striker they fought over in the January transfer window.

West Ham and Newcastle reportedly battled it out throughout January to sign Stade Reims striker Hugo Ekitike.

French outlets Le10Sport and Get French Football News as well as Sky Sports all claimed that West Ham and Newcastle submitted bids to Reims for the rapid 19-year-old.

West Ham and Newcastle fans were understandably excited as Ekitike has been dubbed the new Kylian Mbappe and also likened to Thierry Henry.

Ekitike has reportedly caught the eye of both West Ham boss David Moyes and Newcastle manager Eddie Howe with his goalscoring exploits during his debut campaign.

He has nine goals and two assists in just 14 starts for Reims.

Neither the Hammers or Magpies managed to get a deal done for Ekitike in January despite reports claiming both were working on a deal until very late on deadline day.

After the window closed West Ham and Newcastle were said to be ready to revisit a move for the striker in the summer.

Signing a forward is right at the top of West Ham’s priority list when the window opens on June 9th given the awful goalscoring form of the club’s only recognised senior striker Michail Antonio.

And at Newcastle, Chris Wood is widely considered a stop-gap signing while Callum Wilson has continued to struggle with injuries that have blighted his career.

Now there has been a new twist in battle between West Ham and Newcastle for the young French striker they fought over in January.

Because it appears West Ham have cooled their interest in £30m rated Ekitike while Newcastle have escalated theirs.

That’s according to a new report from French outlet But! Football Club – as also reported by GFFN.

The reports make no mention of any remaining interest from West Ham ahead of the summer window.

But Newcastle are said to be continuing their pursuit of the teenage striker and face competition from Borussia Dortmund.

It is also suggested that Ekitike rebuffed a move to Newcastle in January due to fears they could be relegated.

Ekitike has not been able to add to his impressive goal ratio during his maiden season due to injury keeping him on the sidelines in recent times.

But! Football Club claims Newcastle will be going for Ekitike again in the summer.

Having bid for Darwin Nunez on deadline day, West Ham appear to have moved on to other targets.

But that also looks a rather unlikely signing given a host of elite clubs including PSG are also said to be chasing the Uruguayan.

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