Serie A winner has decided on £15.5m West Ham transfer as Soungoutou Magassa nears

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From Soungoutou Magassa to Ibrahim Sangare, Mateus Fernandes to Aleix Garcia, even the most attentive West Ham United supporter would be forgiven for losing track heading into the final few days of the transfer window.

With time running out, and those devastating defeats to Sunderland, Chelsea and Wolves ramming home the dire need for midfield reinforcements, the extraordinary number of links over the course of the last week has soared into double figures.

Soungoutou Magassa is clearly the closest to coming through the door.

Per Fabrizio Romano, West Ham have agreed terms with Monaco on an initial £14 million deal for the France Under-21 international. Ibrahim Sangare might not be too far behind.

While Nottingham Forest rejected a loan bid for Sangare, Romano believes that a deal for the giant Ivorian could be on the cards if West Ham United shift towards a permanent, up-front sort of arrangement.

Hammers News can also confirm that Southampton ace Mateus Fernandes remains a priority, despite his lofty £40 million asking price.

West Ham approached Torino’s Ivan Ilic as well, while considering Bayer Leverkusen duo Aleix Garcia and Exequiel Palacios.

Add Quinten Timber, Bilal El Khannouss, Marc Casado, Kenneth Taylor, Junior Mwanga, Andy Diouf, Djaoui Cisse, Romano Schmid and RB Leipzig’s Eljif Elmas to the mix, and even Hammers fans with memories that would rival the wisest of elephants would struggle to keep up.

Speaking of Eljif Elmas, while the London Stadium appears unlikely to be his destination at this stage, there should be plenty of movement to come between now and deadline day.

Eljif Elmas stuck in RB Leipzig bomb squad after West Ham United approach

Tuttomercatoweb reported in mid-August that West Ham had made a ‘major enquiry’ for the Macedonia international. What a ‘major enquiry’ entails is anyone’s guess.

But after Elmas rejected the chance to join Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Besiktas, holding out for either Italy or England, the Hammers appeared well-placed to land one of the countless targets on their midfield longlist.

BILD now report that Elmas is one of those stuck in the proverbial RB Leipzig ‘bomb squad’. He was left out of Ole Werner’s squad as the new head coach suffered a 6-0 drubbing by Bayern Munich on his Red Bull debut.

Elmas is training away from Werner’s squad, joining a five-man throng of ‘undesirables’ including ex-Chelsea and Tottenham forward Timo Werner.

Elmas wants to re-join Serie A champions Napoli after Bundesliga snub

If Magassa is set to become Potter’s new ‘number six’ – Hammers News can confirm the Monaco marvel will replace Edson Alvarez following his switch to Fenerbahce – Elmas is likely to be viewed as an alternative to fellow ‘number eights’ Fernandes, El Khannouss and co.

Il Mattino reported a few days ago that the silky Elmas ‘turned down’ West Ham’s approach in favour of a return to the Napoli outfit he represented from 2019 to 2024.

Antonio Conte’s Serie A champions currently have no plans to pay the £15.5 million fee Leipzig want, though, meaning his future is very much in limbo as the sands of time tick away and deadline day looms into view.

Then again, isn’t that always the case for all involved at this time of the year?