West Ham are reportedly closing in on another new signing with a deal now in the ‘final stages’ and terms already agreed — and it’s not Mads Hermansen.
The Hammers are expected to complete a deal to sign Leicester City goalkeeper Mads Hermansen this weekend.
But that’s not even the most exciting news around West Ham right now.
Signing a new goalkeeper who can be West Ham’s number one for the long-term has been a priority for Graham Potter ever since he released veteran Lukasz Fabianski at the end of last season.
Current Hammers number one Alphonse Areola turns 33 next season but has struggled to convince Potter since the 50-year-old’s arrival in east London back in January.
While always capable of pulling off jaw-dropping save of the month contenders, Areola’s all-round game is not as polished and reliable as Fabianski’s.
A lack of composure and command for his area has reared its head again in pre-season where Areola has looked nervy and very much like a player who knows his place is under threat.
That’s exactly what is about to happen with West Ham on the verge of paying a club record for a goalkeeper by signing Dane Hermansen for around £18m.
Hermansen all set to sign for West Ham
The loss of the 25-year-old, who is excellent with his feet, is stinging Leicester fans, who have bemoaned the deal saying it is half what Hermansen is really worth.
Hammers News understands West Ham walked away from the deal initially after a £17m gap in valuation between their opening £13m bid and Leicester’s £30m plus asking price.
Now it seems the money the Hammers have saved is about to be put to good use.
Because a West Ham deal is in ‘final stages’ and it’s not Hermansen as a fifth signing ‘agrees terms’ – a new report has claimed.
West Ham’s other priorities for the summer window were to sign at least one, if not two, new midfielders.
Jacob Ramsey and Mateus Fernandes are top targets.
But signing two would be dependent on several fringe midfielders leaving.
Potter ideally wanted a new centre-back but again that would require Nayef Aguerd or Konstantinos Mavropanos being sold.
When exclusively revealing to Hammers News that Callum Wilson was going to be joining the club last month, West Ham’s owners made it clear they wanted two forward signings.
And it seems the Hammers could be on the verge of fulfilling that aim.
With two of the more senior strikers in the Premier League on their books, a younger forward who can lead the line for a new-look West Ham for years to come has been very much in the club’s thinking.
With bags of experience in Wilson and Niclas Füllkrug, Potter doesn’t feel West Ham need to make the kind of expensive, big-name striker signing that has flopped in east London so often in the past.
West Ham deal in ‘final stages’ and it’s not Hermansen
So a move for 18-year-old Metz and Senegal starlet Idrissa Gueye in a £13m deal ticks all the boxes.
Head of recruitment Kyle Macaulay identified Gueye as a top value signing for West Ham with the potential to become the club’s main striker in time.
Another recent young striker arrival Daniel Cummings has had a shoulder operation and will miss the start of the new season.
The plan was for Cummings to show what he can do with the Under 21s before progressing to the first team.
That was why the Scottish forward turned down a new deal at Champions League Celtic, where Brendan Rodgers was promising him more game time, in order to move to West Ham.
So another young forward like Gueye, who is close friends with fellow new signing and compatriot El Hadji Malick Diouf, would leave the Hammers in good shape for the future with him, Marshall and Cummings all top prospects.
Gueye has been compared to former Liverpool hero Sadio Mane and Olivier Giroud – who will face West Ham will Lille on Saturday.
A report from Foot Mercato in France this week claimed the Hammers are pushing hard to bring young Metz striker to the club.
And the 6ft 2in star is said to be available for just £13.5m – the same amount the Hammers have just saved on Leicester’s original asking price for Hermansen.
Now the move is said to have progressed with a report from Gueye’s homeland Senegal claiming it is in the ‘final stages’ and the player has ‘agreed terms’.
Fifth Hammers signing ‘agrees terms’
Senegalese sports news site WiwSport claim a West Ham deal for Gueye is now ‘imminent’.
“According to sources close to the deal, the London club has reached an agreement in principle with the player regarding the personal terms of his contract…” the report states.
“Negotiations between West Ham and FC Metz are now reportedly in the final stages, with the two clubs finalising the final details of the transfer.”
Given Gueye’s age, there have been suggestions he could be signed and loaned back to Metz having helped them get promoted back to Ligue 1.
But the report claims West Ham want him in their squad this season.
“The amount of the deal has not yet been officially announced,” the report adds.
“It is clear that the Hammers want to act quickly to integrate the Senegalese striker into the squad before the start of the Premier League.”
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