A top young striker West Ham allegedly want to beat Newcastle to has a £33.5m release clause that the English clubs can trigger.
West Ham have been linked with a move to sign Nice star Amine Gouiri in the summer transfer window.
According to a report from Foot Mercato, David Moyes faces competition from Newcastle United for the talented 22-year-old French forward’s signature.
A report earlier this summer described Newcastle’s interest in a series of David Moyes targets as ‘obsessive’.
It is certainly easy to see why.
Newcastle reportedly made – ultimately unsuccessful – 11th hour bids to hijack West Ham’s £30m West Ham deal with Rennes for Moroccan defender Nayef Aguerd and to sign Alphonse Areola.
The Hammers and Newcastle have also reportedly been locked in transfer battles over Jesse Lingard, Sven Botman and Hugo Ekitike in recent months.
In January both clubs were also said to be vying for Diego Carlos – who has since signed for Aston Villa.
And Newcastle have been linked with the likes of Emmanuel Dennis, Ismaila Sarr and Armando Broja after reported interest from West Ham too.
West Ham manager David Moyes is a long-term admirer of Gouiri. Now it seems Eddie Howe is also interested in the forward.
West Ham have already signed Italy striker Gianluca Scamacca but are said to be looking to add another forward before the window closes having gone 18 months with Michail Antonio as their solitary senior striker.
Foot Mercato reckon that the Hammers are desperate to bring Gouiri to the London Stadium from Ligue 1 – which is an area Moyes and Rob Newman are very much focused on in the search for talent.
Nice manager Lucien Favre is said to be reluctant to let the striker leave.
But he may not have much of a choice if Moyes or Howe are serious about landing his player it seems.
Because the top young striker West Ham allegedly want to beat Newcastle to has a £33.5m release clause the English clubs can trigger.
According to Get French Football News, Gouiri has an agreement with Nice that he will be allowed to leave if a club outside France meets his valuation.
The report, which states that Borussia Dortmund are also interested, claims the agreement is in place because Nice are very reluctant to sell to a French rival.
“Should an offer of over €40m (£33.5m) arrive from a foreign club, there is a verbal agreement in place for Gouiri to leave,” GFFN reports.
“A club with the financial means of pulling off the deal, like Borussia Dortmund, are interested in the player.
“Ligue 1 side Rennes are also interested, but Nice are reticent to selling to a rival, and the verbal agreement already in place stipulates that the €40m+ (£33.5m) offer comes from a foreign club.”
Gouiri has scored 26 goals and laid on 16 assists in 68 games for Nice over the last two seasons (WhoScored).
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