West Ham United want to sign German international Kerem Demirbay according to reports from Italy.
The Hammers need reinforcements in key areas this summer after an underwhelming debut campaign under Manuel Pellegrini.
There will be a striker overhaul at the club.
But a new centre back, left-back and possibly even right-back are needed as well as two new midfielders.
Hammers want Bundesliga star
One of those could be Hoffenheim star Kerem Demirbay according to Calciomercato.
The box-to-box midfielder has an eye for goal with 22 goals in his last 88 games. He also scored in his second game for Germany having switched allegiance from Turkey.
At 25 Demirbay is a good age too.
Calciomercato reports The Hammers are keen to bring him in this summer although no fee is mentioned.
Wolves are also credited with an interest but the lure of London would be in West Ham’s favour.
Demirbay is well known to Jurgen Klopp who had him at Borussia Dortmund as an emerging youngster.
An impressive eye for goal
The player has been linked with Klopp’s title hopefuls Liverpool in the past as well as Arsenal.
Demirbay’s influence at Hoffenheim has been immense. He has led the club to sixth place in the Bundesliga this term, just one win off the Champions League places with eight games remaining.
He courted controversy back in 2015 when he was hit with a five-game ban for making a sexist comment against female referee Bibiana Steinhaus.
Unsavoury incident on Demirbay’s record
After being sent off by Steinhaus, Demirbay told her “women have no place in men’s football”.
Demirbay telephoned Steinhaus after the match to apologise and in addition to his ban was ordered to referee a junior league girls’ football match.
With Jack Wilshere unreliable and Pedro Obiang likely to leave, Demirbay would be ideal for Manuel Pellegrini this summer.