Julen Lopetegui’s prime striker target has ‘said goodbyes’ ahead of an expected bid from West Ham it has been claimed.
West Ham have already completed one signing for new head coach Julen Lopetegui.
The Hammers have completed the signing of no-nonsense centre-back Fabricio Bruno from Flamengo for around £12.8m.
Bruno cannot officially join West Ham until the international window opens on July 1st.
But the club can and likely will confirm the deal in due course.
An exciting claim was made over the weekend that West Ham are planning to make three priority signings by July 1st.
Technical director Tim Steidten wants to sign two central defenders and a bona fide striker for Lopetegui.
With one deal done, as confirmed by Fabrizio Romano, another could follow hot on Bruno’s heels.
West Ham have been linked with a host of forwards in recent weeks.
The likes of Ivan Toney, Serhou Guirassy, Armando Broja and Victor Boniface are all reported targets.
Earlier this month Hammers News exclusively revealed that Youssef En-Nesyri was the striker name on a list of targets Lopetegui had given West Ham when interviewed.
Reunion on the cards at West Ham?
Sure enough after we ran our story, En-Nesyri has indeed emerged as West Ham’s number one target up front.
En-Nesyri has been linked with the Hammers on several occasions in the last two years.
The Moroccan played his best football under Lopetegui at Sevilla.
Spanish publication El Mira has claimed the Hammers can sign the Sevilla forward for just £17 million this summer.
And not only that, but the Moroccan wants to move to the London Stadium as well. Sevilla are also under serious pressure to sell by the end of June to avoid financial sanctions.
West Ham have been here before. En-Nesyri has been linked on more than one occasion with the striker reportedly twice turning down a move.
But now Lopetegui’s prime striker target has ‘said goodbyes’ ahead of an expected West Ham bid.
Lopetegui’s prime striker target has ‘said goodbyes’
En-Nesyri scored in Sevilla’s 2-1 defeat to Barcelona in the last La Liga game of the season at the weekend.
It was his 20th goal in all competitions of a season where he missed several games while away at AFCON.
According to AS journalist Javier Maria Lopez, En-Nesyri was deliberately substituted on 90 minutes so he and the fans could say farewell to one another ahead of an anticipated move to West Ham.
“Nervion gave him a standing ovation when he was substituted in the 90th minute,” the report states.
“The ovation sounded more like goodbye than until next season. En-Nesyri is entering the last year of his contract and this is one of the few things that Sevilla can get out of the current squad.
“And Sevilla needs to find euros under the rocks if it wants to have the financial possibilities of forming a guaranteed squad (although other variables beyond money influence which are even more dubious).
‘This was farewell’
“The shadow of West Ham, who already wanted him on previous occasions, appears again, but then it was En-Nesyri who decided to stay (previously).
“First, because he saw himself in a project that seemed like the League could fight. Then, the winter of 2023, because it did not seem ethical to him to get off a drifting ship and collaborate in pursuit of salvation…
“Nervion’s palms rang with farewell and honours.”
He has an average match rating of just under 7/10 and has been voted Sevilla’s man of the match on four occasions.
As West Ham fans will know the striker has fantastic pace and is brilliant in the air.
If Lopetegui can find a role for James Ward-Prowse then En-Nesyri could be lethal feeding off his set-pieces for West Ham.