West Ham have issued a response after claims emerged suggesting a brilliant and long-awaited first summer signing is now imminent.
Hammers fans are up in arms at the club’s lack of transfer activity so far this summer.
Especially given how much work needs to be done at West Ham with the new Premier League season now just five weeks away.
Graham Potter told fans it would be an “exciting and interesting” window.
He wants to drastically lower the age of West Ham’s squad and thin it down to help foster a better team spirit.
Fans expected West Ham deals to be ready after Kudus sale
The Hammers have long made it clear they must sell to buy.
So now Mohammed Kudus has been controversially offloaded to rivals Spurs for £54.5m, supporters are understandably demanding action.
Especially as West Ham have now had over six weeks since the window opened – and seven since the end of the season – to line up targets ready to submit bids.
One such player who has quite literally been in a holding pattern waiting to join the Hammers is El Hadji Malick Diouf.
Slavia Prague’s president has admitted he’s surprised West Ham have not agreed to meet their £21.5m valuation for Diouf yet.
There is a £4m gap from West Ham’s £17.5m bid and the player has been kept away from training to protect him from any injury which might jeopardise the move.
While that deal is waiting to be signed off, Atalanta and Leeds have also shown interest in the Senegalese left-back.
West Ham issued a major transfer statement after the Kudus sale.
In it they pledged to give Potter all proceeds from the Ghanaian’s exit for signings.
But the Hammers board made it clear they ‘will not be hurried’ on signings because they must ‘make every penny count’.
West Ham respond to claim brilliant first signing now imminent
That may go some way to explaining West Ham’s apparent reluctance to meet Slavia’s asking price for Diouf.
With reports the player is keen to join, fans will be furious if the Hammers let the deal slip through their fingers.
Meanwhile a transfer report arrived out of the blue on Saturday morning which has shocked and excited fans in equal measure.
Now West Ham have responded to a claim that a brilliant first signing is now imminent after terms were reportedly agreed.
It has been reported in Italy that West Ham are on the verge of signing Brazil midfielder Douglas Luiz.
Reports stated that personal terms have already been agreed, sparking excitement among fans – but the Hammers have now given their take.
West Ham were actually linked with Luiz back in December so it is not a stretch to suggest the club would be interested.
But the claim from top Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport – as repeated by Juventus News – is the first time Luiz has been linked with West Ham since Potter’s arrival.
The report states there is confidence a deal for West Ham to sign Luiz ‘is well-organised and can be closed’ as a paid loan and obligation.
La Gazzetta also reports that West Ham are working on an agreement with Juve that includes a £5m loan fee with an obligation to buy at around £20-23m and that the ‘deal appears to be nearing completion’.
It is fair to say the news has been met with as much scepticism as excitement.
West Ham respond to Gazzetta’s Luiz deal claim
Hammers News has reached out to the top spokesman for West Ham’s owners to verify the Luiz claims.
And the cynics among the Hammers faithful will be vindicated.
Because the rumour has been emphatically denied by West Ham’s most senior source.
“NOT TRUE!” was the short, sharp response from the top spokesman for West Ham’s owners to the Luiz report – in capital letters for added emphasis.
Hammers fans will be disappointed if not entirely surprised.
It would be highly unusual for West Ham to be able to keep a deal such as that under wraps until it was ‘nearly complete’ as La Gazzetta had claimed.
Among West Ham’s other midfield targets are Club Brugge and Nigeria star Raphael Onyedika and Genoa’s Morten Frendup.
Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox
