Bigger deal than Kante: West Ham among favourites to sign £50m star
Life under Julen Lopetegui is well and truly underway at West Ham United, with the Spanish tactician working on shaping his team ahead of the 2024/25 campaign.
The Hammers enjoyed comparative success in the Premier League last season, finishing eighth after languishing to a 14th-place finish the year before (the same season, albeit, that saw the Conference League conquered), but pragmatic performances and a bleak end to the season saw the club part ways with David Moyes, and usher in a new era.
West Ham are less than one month away from their season opener against Aston Villa, and while technical director Tim Steidten is pulling no punches in strengthening the squad, the hunt for a top-class centre-forward rages on.
West Ham searching for new striker
As per reports relayed by Caught Offside, West Ham have received a major boost in their bid to sign Brentford striker Ivan Toney, for the Bees are reluctantly willing to settle for less than £50m after top outfits were dissuaded by their lofty price tag.
Toney wants to leave Brentford this summer, but with Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United withdrawing from consideration, the Hammers and London rivals Tottenham Hotspur are currently the only contenders.
What Ivan Toney would bring to West Ham
Banned from May 2023 to January 2024 due to FA betting breaches, Toney returned to action emphatically at the start of the year but petered out toward the end of the campaign, with injury-hit Brentford struggling to reach the fluency they had achieved over the previous two years in the Premier League.
