West Ham United look set to miss out on the perfect central midfield recruit to Aston Villa despite being given a head start over a year ago.
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West Ham were first linked with a move for Marseille central midfielder Sanson before the last January window (The Express).
According to recent reports West Ham have reignited their interest this month (The Sun).
But Premier League rivals Aston Villa are now said to be close to sealing his signature (talkSPORT).
Villa set to beat West Ham to longstanding target Sanson?
Villa are said to be in advanced talks with the French side over a £16million deal for the former France Under-21 international.
It is a bitter blow for West Ham boss David Moyes who, rather worryingly, only has ageing captain Mark Noble as back-up to Tomas Soucek and Declan Rice.
West Ham missed out on Ollie Watkins and Matty Cash to Villa in the summer. That blow was partially softened by the brilliant signing of Vladimir Coufal for a third of the price Cash cost Villa.
But West Ham are now left relying on injury-prone striker Michail Antonio up front after the sale of Sebastien Haller.
After a new striker, a defensive midfielder is a priority for West Ham.
West Ham were given a year head start thanks to former MD not at Marseille
And Sanson would have been the perfect signing to complement or fill in for Rice and Soucek.
The most galling aspect of Sanson’s impending Villa move, though, is that former West Ham MD Paul Aldridge gave his old club the jump on the midfielder a year ago.
Aldridge was appointed as Head of Selling Players to England – yes really – by Marseille last January (Get French Football News).
According to GFFN, hiring Aldridge was cash-strapped Marseille’s attempt to sell players to Premier League clubs such as West Ham and get the best possible deals.
Insider ExWHUemployee confirmed West Ham’s interest in Sanson on his Patreon site this week.
Insider confirms Sanson was offered to West Ham a year ago
And he too said West Ham look set to miss out on Sanson despite being giving contacted by Aldridge a year ago to try and secure a deal.
“Morgan Sanson is a midfielder we have liked for a long time and someone who I’ve reported interest in before,” ExWHUemployee said on his Patreon site.
“Paul Aldridge, a former, West Ham director had made contact with us last January on behalf of Marseille to try and secure a deal. The money we have is for a forward and other clubs are very interested. It would seem they may get there before we do to complete the deal.”