Youssef En-Nesyri has sent a timely reminder to Julen Lopetegui ahead of a £20m West Ham bid to reunite the duo.
Julen Lopetegui is taking over at West Ham with the club requiring a major overhaul.
With six players leaving on free transfers, Lopetegui will inherit a Hammers squad of just 16 senior players.
That’s before taking into account players who may be sold this summer with speculation rife around the likes of Lucas Paqueta and Nayef Aguerd.
Alongside technical director Tim Steidten, Lopetegui must reconstruct the team and squad.
But ask any Hammers fan where the incoming new boss needs to strengthen most and the majority will say up top.
Playing Jarrod Bowen up front has had mixed results with many – including Bowen himself – feeling he offers more to the team in his preferred role off the right.
Lopetegui wants reunion with striker at West Ham
Michail Antonio has looked useful again of late. There is no hiding from father time, though.
Antonio turns 35 next season and while he may prove to be a more than useful squad player for West Ham, Lopetegui surely needs to go in search of a new forward.
Particularly as things just haven’t worked out for ageing Danny Ings.
Last week we exclusively revealed on Hammers News that longstanding West Ham target Youssef En-Nesyri is the prime striker target on a list of four players Lopetegui wants the club to sign.
En-Nesyri has been linked with West Ham in every single window over the last few years.
The Moroccan striker played under Lopetegui at Sevilla.
And we have been told the 26-year-old is the striker Lopetegui wants West Ham to sign for him this summer.
En-Nesyri reminder for Lopetegui ahead of £20m bid
We are also reliably informed En-Nesyri has great respect for Lopetegui, under whom he has played some of the best football of his career.
Now En-Nesyri has sent a reminder to Lopetegui ahead of a £20m West Ham bid.
With an 8.4/10 rating the Moroccan forward was head and shoulders Sevilla’s best player as he scored a brace in a 3-2 defeat to Villarreal at the weekend.
West Ham’s number one striker target twice gave Sevilla the lead in the first half.
His first was a beautifully dispatched penalty before showing his immense aerial prowess by heading home a Jesus Navas cross.
In our exclusive last week we claimed Sevilla would be open to doing a deal for En-Nesyri because he is out of contract next summer and they are struggling financially.
Hammers could be lethal
The star’s brace comes as reports gather momentum that West Ham will make an offer to meet Sevilla’s reported £20m asking price.
En-Nesyri has now scored 17 goals in 31 starts for Sevilla in La Liga and the Champions League this season.
Fifteen of those have come in the league with two in Europe.
Our source who told us En-Nesyri is the striker on Lopetegui’s list of four La Liga stars he wants West Ham to sign, says the 26-year-old is ‘one of his favourite players’.
En-Nesyri also has bags of pace and is a bonafide striker.
He could be lethal up front for West Ham.
With Paqueta – or his replacement – on the left, Bowen on the right and Mohammed Kudus in his preferred central attacking midfield role behind En-Nesyri as the striker, West Ham could be some threat.
